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I recently read an article in the Guardian, talking about the new Olympic stadium in Beijing. It's fair to say that from the pictures it appears to be a quite stunning piece of architecture, totally unique in design. I imagine even more so if you were to go there.

In contrast to this, I think the proposed design for the London Olympic stadium, whilst still appearing quite vast in size (and therefore impressive in itself), feels somewhat conservative in it's aesthetic appeal.

This got me thinking about other stadium architecture, and how we approach it in this country. Do we go for the safe option?

Compare the Allianz Arena in Munich, to the Emirates Stadium in London. Both built around the same time, both large and modern, making them impressive in their own rights. However, I still think the Emirates has a largely generic looking design. Whereas the Allianz Arena is truly unique in look, with it's distinctive shape, and outer shell designed to be able to be lit up to any colour – therefore forever visibly changing it's appearance.

It is brave elements of design like this, that I think we appear to be missing in this country.

Wembley is a great example of this, a national icon, and one of the most famous stadiums in the world, and surely an opportunity to show something off. The new design is undoubtably impressive given it's size, I'm sure even more from inside of it. However, it's one quirk, the one thing that may set it out from other generic modern stadiums, is a big arch sticking out of the roof? Is this daring enough? Some might say it is, given that the arch can be seen across the capital. However, I can't help but think that the rest of the stadium is an enlarged version of the Emirates, and therefore a missed opportunity.

Can this be applied to modern architecture in general in this country? Are we bold enough? Or are our conservative ways because some things just stick out like a sore thumb in a country blessed with existing architectural beauty (and high rise council blocks)?

This is the original Guardian article which has more information about the other Beijing Olympic developments

Posted by Jamie on 14 Feb 08, at 9:22 am

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