Buro Happold proud to be part of the design team
International multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy Buro Happold, and architects HOK SVE and Studio Zoppini Associati, are celebrating winning two awards for the Torino speed skating arena in Turin. The Oval Lingotto was one of two projects to receive a gold medal for both the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Association for Sports and Leisure Facilities (IAKS) Award 2007 and the International Paraplegic Committee (IPC) and IAKS Distinction for Accessibility 2007.
This year 88 teams from 27 countries participated in the competition. To qualify, it was essential that each project had been up and running successfully for at least a year.
The IOC/IAKS Award commends sports facilities of exemplary design and function. The Oval Lingotto also won the IPC/IAKS Distinction for Accessibility which is awarded by the IAKS, in association with the IPC, to sports facilities suitable for people with a disability. Its aim is to promote accessibility, allowing people with a disability the opportunity to play or view sport without limitations or barriers.
Built for the 2006 Winter Olympics, the skating arena provides a world class skating venue, allowing athletes to achieve outstanding performances and speed records. It also offers a flexible dual use for the local community, with skating in the winter and exhibition space in the summer months.
The arena makes a significant contribution to the urban redevelopment in the area.
Associate director and project leader, Steve Macey, said: “It is fantastic to be recognised for all the hard work that the whole project team put into the design and construction of the speed skating arena.
“The operation of the highly sophisticated systems for the ice and internal environment has already allowed a competitor to get within a 100th of a second of a world record, despite the relatively low altitude of Turin compared to Salt Lake City and Calgary, where all existing records have been set.
“Besides its use for the Olympics, the hall has also received a lot of praise regarding its suitability for concerts and exhibitions. As the venue is an exhibition space for eight months of the year, provision was made for the sub-division of the roof structure using acoustic curtains, enabling conversion of the arena into three exhibition halls.”
The project team was faced with a number of challenges at the design stages, and produced a number of innovative features to overcome these. The main arena has north facing windows, plus 2m windows at the bottom of the southern façade. This limits the effects of direct solar radiation on the ice track. It also controls lighting levels so that the 1,800 lux from the 400 light fittings, required for television broadcasts, can be efficiently controlled to prevent direct or reflected glare from the ice.
The reduced glazing design also meant that the walls could be acoustically treated with perforated panels in addition to the perforated roof lining. This resulted in high performance internal acoustics for speed events, exhibitions and concerts in legacy mode.
Heating to the arena takes advantage of the proximity of the Turin district heating system. It reduces direct energy consumption by using the same energy efficient source that is used to heat the building to regenerate the desiccant wheels. These wheels dehumidify the conditioned air to prevent fog forming over the ice. Six air handling units help to achieve a resilient solution for competition events. They can operate at a reduced capacity for training, or in pairs, which allows flexibility for the hall to be split into three areas during exhibitions.
Sustainability and optimum operating characteristics were key considerations in the choice of R507 refrigeration chillers for the 400m ice oval, due to restrictions on the use of ammonia in public buildings. Another sustainable solution was the use of demineralised water for treating the water used to make the ice, rather than a non-ecological de-ionised system.
Ends
Project team:
Architects: HOK Sport + Venue + Event (Mandataire team leader: John Barrow)
Studio Zoppini Associati
Services provided by Buro Happold: Building services, structures
Note to Editors:
Buro Happold
Press Office and practice information at www.burohappold.com
Images of the arena are available on request.
For more information, please contact the Press Office:
Hannah Green
Assistant Press Officer
Tel +44 (0)1225 320627
Email hannah.green@burohappold.com
Buro Happold is a multi-disciplinary international practice of consulting engineers established in 1976 offering civil and structural engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, quantity surveying, building services and environmental engineering, health and safety management, infrastructure and traffic engineering, ground engineering, façade engineering, fire engineering, computational fluid dynamics analysis, inclusive design consultancy, project management, urban design and a range of specialist CAD services.
