Tokyo Olympics Structures Built as per Environmental Sustainability Pledge
Engaging the whole country and prioritising environmental sustainability is a core pledge of the Tokyo Games. In accordance, Tokyo studio Nikken Sekkei has designed a timber communal building at the Tokyo Olympic Games' athletes village, which was built using 40,000 pieces of Japanese wood. The temporary structure, which will serve as the central meeting place for athletes within the Olympic Village, contains a cafe, bank, medical spaces, lounges, hair salons, retail spaces and a media centre. The 5,300 square-metre communal space is located at the Harumi waterfront district of Tokyo on the eastern side of the athletes' village. It was constructed from 40,000 pieces of sustainably Japanese cypress, cedar and larch, which were "borrowed" from local governments across the country. Use of wood from different regions throughout the building will express diversity and harmony. It is a low-lying, single-storey structure that is clad in long vertically and horizontally arranged beams and was topped with a corrugated metal roof. Inside, wood was arranged in a lattice formation with the structure of the building celebrated and left exposed. Each piece of wood used in the building was marked with a stamp that detailed the name of the area it was sourced from. After the completion of the games, the structure will be dismantled and wood returned to the donating municipalities to be reused in local construction projects. This project is based on is the first initiative of the kind in the history of Olympic and Paralympic Games. Other initiatives aiming to make the games sustainable include the athletes' beds being created from cardboard frames, podiums made from donated plastic waste and medals made from recycled smartphones.
Tags : INTERNATIONAL Sustainability Structures Environmental Built Tokyo Olympics Pledge