ExCeL London Venue, UK Sports Building, Conference Centre, News, Design

ExCeL Boxing Venue : London Conference Centre

Exhibition and Convention Center, England, UK – design by Populous, architects

Address: Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, London E16 1XL

Phone: 020 7069 5000

This Exhibition and Convention Centre hosts judo, boxing, fencing, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling.

16 Nov 2011

ExCeL London – Olympic Boxing Venue

POPULOUS RELEASES NEW IMAGES OF THE EXCEL AND THE BOXING VENUE FOR LONDON 2012 GAMES

London – 16 November 2011

ExCeL London, will host a remarkable amount of sport during the London 2012 Games, with 7 Olympic and 6 Paralympic Sports Competitions taking place within its walls, running across an incredible 143 sessions of sport. In order to accommodate this amazing variety of events, a comprehensive overlay design has been provided by global design and architectural practice, Populous, with 10 Olympic Games of experience in its portfolio and currently working on 35 of the London 2012 competition venues.

picture : Populous

ExCeL London Exhibition and Convention Centre

The new images released today, display the design layout of the 5 temporary arenas into the existing Convention Centre, and the vision of the Boxing venue for the London 2012 Games – released ahead of the London 2012 test event, the London Boxing International Invitational which runs from 24-27 November.

The international competition, part of the London Prepares series, will see the best boxers in the world compete as the London 2012 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) test the Field of Play, workforce operations, and timing and scoring. The test event will also give the chance to introduce and test the use of the new scoreboard, remote controlled corner cameras (boxer’s corner) in the ring and a new competition schedule featuring women’s boxing.

image from Olympic Delivery Authority

Jeff Keas, Principal of Populous said: “In some regards ExCeL has similarities to the Olympic Park in that it is a collection of arenas linked together with a common concourse. However, in this case the common concourse and sport arenas happen to be enclosed under the same roof, so we’ve used this to our advantage and developed a unique environment for each arena. In working with LOCOG, our intention is to bring a little of the West End to ExCeL and create the concept of ‘a theatre in the black box’. Each of the Olympic and Paralympic sports being hosted at ExCeL will have its own magical experience.”

James Bulley, LOCOG Director of Venues, said: “ExCeL is a very important venue for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games as it houses so many sports under one roof. The design of the temporary arenas is key to providing a spectacular and memorable experience for the spectators, and we are delighted that the designs by Populous create a real sense of theatre.”

picture : Populous

ExCeL Olympic Boxing Venue – Facts and Figures

ExCeL London is an international exhibition & convention centre that is capable of hosting a variety of events ranging from award-winning exhibitions and conferences to international association meetings, product launches, banquets, award ceremonies and sporting events.

– 7 Olympic Sports Competitions (Table Tennis; Judo; Wrestling; Fencing; Taekwondo; Boxing; Weightlifting) for a total of 16 days.

– 6 Paralympic Sports Competitions (Table Tennis; Judo; Fencing; Boccia; Sitting Volleyball; Powerlifting) for a total of 10 days.

– ExCeL will host a total of 143 Olympic sessions and 94 Paralympic sessions across a wide range of sports.

– Exhibition Arenas: subdivided in 5 arenas (2 north arenas and 3 south arenas) where five temporary seating bowls with capacities from 6,000 to 10,000 will be built. Each arena will be composed of main temporary seating structure as well as sport and operational areas. A spectator zone for spectators with temporary toilets, retail units and catering concession will also be assembled in each of the five arenas. Beside the five competition arenas a satellite broadcast area and operational compounds will also occupy a portion of the area within the Exhibition arenas.

– Back of House: Compounds for Broadcast and Operations and a Fleet vehicles depot are planned at level 0 of the venue. Those areas will be divided off from the car park and also on the Sandstone lane on the North side of the venue. Existing conference and meeting rooms divided on levels 2 and 3 will be also used for back of house areas such as Games Family Lounges, International Federation areas and Venue Media Centre and Conference Rooms.

– Front of House: Spectator zones for spectators with temporary toilets, retail units and catering concession will also be assembled on each of the five competition arenas. The concourse at the centre of the venue will be used on a one way system to bring spectators to each of the spectator zones. Some restaurants on a mezzanine level overlooking the concourse will be open to spectators. The main concourse and the waterfront external area with bars and cafes are intended to act as a Common domain area.

– Site parameters: The ExCeL site has an area of approximately 200.000 m2, 130.000m2 of those being the main building, measuring more than 280m in width and around 900m in length.

– The venue is part of a 100 acre estate including 3 onsite DLR stations, easy access to London City Airport, parking for 2,700 cars, 6 on-site hotels and over 40 on-site bars and restaurants.

ExCeL Boxing Venue images / information from Populous

ExCeL London

picture from Mark Humphreys

Populous

Location: ExCeL, London, England, UK

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ExCeL Phase 2 Development
2010
Architects: Grimshaw

picture from Mark Humphreys
ExCeL London’s brief required the extension of their existing building to provide more flat-floor exhibition space in a purely contiguous setting. Through close collaboration with the client, Grimshaw’s response has helped expand this vision into an extension that combines functionalism and design, resulting in a building capable of taking its place on the world stage as London’s second largest Olympic venue and the city’s first International Conference Centre.
ExCeL London design : Grimshaw