TEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE.

TEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE. I have posted on how startling it is for me to see major buildings from the 1970’s being demolished. Bruce Orwall had an article in the Wall Street Journal (July 23) about the design problems posed for architects for the 2012 London Olympics. Some of the architecture was required to be temporary, in light of the history of buildings from past Olympics which are now little used. The London stadium is designed for 80,000 permanent seats, but will be reduced to 25,000 seats after the Games conclude. Orwall quotes one of the architects, Rod Sheard: “We’re bred with this attitude that your buildings last for 50 years….” Nevertheless, the architects took advantage of the planned obsolescence to do things that architects don’t usually do. They were able to save money by using more fabric. And they were able to use more color, which architects rarely use because colors fade quickly in the sun.