Zaha Hadid won the relevant architectural competition back in 2005, but since then she has had to redo her project twice, with the roof of the complex, its most visible element, reduced in size by one third.
The current difficulties are related to the desire of the client, the Olympics Office, to make the main pool of the complex from stainless steel. This will be the first example of the use of this material for an Olympic swimming pool in the history of the Games. This innovation will significantly increase the cost of construction, therefore, an engineering revaluation of the cost of this sports facility was carried out. Experts have tried to remove stainless steel from all other parts of the building, in particular from its floors. Instead of metal, it was proposed to build them from wood, which, ultimately, will only make the building "greener".
At the same time, numerous design changes are increasingly distorting the original design of the architect, which allowed Hadid to win the architectural competition. When there is no trace of her ideas left, one may ask: what was the point of holding a competition between architects, if architectural quality is the last concern of the organizers of the Olympics?
