Olympic Skating Arena Cutting Edge Green-Wins “Gold” for Beauty and Sustainability

Vancouver, host to the ongoing winter Olympics, has long been considered one of the world’s most livable cities. And with the Olympics come the eyes of the entire world. Vancouver is now on display and one of the crown jewels of the Olympian host city is the Richmond Olympic Oval.

Completed a little more than a year ago, the facility has won numerous architectural awards, including the Structural Engineers 2009 Award for Sports or Leisure Structure.

Located just outside Vancouver along the Fraser River in Richmond, the $178 million complex features a distinctive wave-shaped roof that is the largest clear span wooden structure in the world. Inside the building 15 soaring wooden arches span the expansive roof, creating a rippling effect that evokes a feeling of “being sheltered by a massive heron’s wing,” a city official recently told Planet Ark.

Innovation in sustainability

The roof for the 7,600-seat facility is constructed with a million board-feet of pine beetle-infested wood that would have otherwise gone to waste. The sweeping curves of the roof harvests rainwater for irrigation and flushing toilets. Incorporated into the skating rink’s refrigeration plant, a heat recovery system heats the rest of the building.

By almost all accounts, the Richmond Olympic Oval is a marriage of aesthetics and functional sustainability worthy of its surroundings. Designed by Canon Design, the structure evokes an emotional response from those lucky enough to see it and use it first-hand. Says Australian skater Sophie Muir:

“It’s just absolutely amazing, like nothing I’ve ever seen. The place is just beautiful in the way they’ve set it up to be quite environmentally friendly, which scores brownie points in my books.”

After the games the Olympic Oval will be used as a multi-sport facility and exercise center. No doubt one of the most distinctive and beautiful sport and exercise centers in the world.