The London Media Center project was commissioned by Eliz & Morrison in early 2008 and was completed in early 2009. But the British Architecture and Construction Committee CABE called it "unusually weak" and commissioned the RPS Group to finalize it. Once again, he was not satisfied with the result, and the project returned to the original authors, who were engaged in its optimization, when the laying of the foundation had already begun.
The last option was liked by the officials, who were worried about the prospect of using the building (like all other structures of the Olympic series) after the end of the games, the budget of its construction and environmental friendliness.
The media center will consist of the buildings of the International TV and Radio Center and the Main Press Center, connected by a 200-meter "Main Street" with infrastructure facilities and a conference center, as well as a catering center and a small transport terminal with parking, a bus stop, a checkpoint and a center accreditation. This entire complex is designed for the work of 20,000 journalists and photographers. After the end of the Games, the transport terminal will retain its main function, but it will be reconstructed for the needs of residents of the surrounding areas, the Main Press Center will turn into an office complex (probably for IT institutions), the rest of the buildings will be dismantled. However, the International Television and Radio Center, which is a building of studios, is still designed for 30 years of use.
As part of the revision, mainly the solutions of the building facades were changed, initially conceived as very modest (for economic reasons). The walls of the International Television and Radio Center will be decorated with vertical panels of different colors instead of the original monochromatic surfaces, and the gray panels of the Main Press Center façade will receive a checkerboard-like texture. The changes also affected the transformation of buildings after the end of the Olympics, which became more convenient.
RMJM won a competition to design a sports village for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, which will host 8,000 athletes during the competition, and then will be converted into a residential area with 1,400 apartments and a 120-bed retirement home. For construction, which will begin in autumn 2010, a plot of 38.5 hectares and 300 million pounds has been allocated.
But apart from the Glasgow Games, RMJM has also been appointed as the implementation consultant for all facilities under construction for next year's Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi. There, construction is proceeding with a great delay, and it was also hampered by a significant excess of the budget. We are talking not only about the sports village, the press center and other infrastructure, but also about the international airport.
