Athlete's Village has it all - Country and Sea Sides all with British Heritage

A Corner of OLV

Last Saturday was my last formal organised Games Maker raining session - OLV VST

It was, at last an opportunity, or so I thought to see where I’d be working during the  Olympics

The OLV VST aka Olympic Village Venue Specific Training really brought home to me the size of the London 2012 Olympic project and the attention to detail that has gone into creating the Olympics in London with a distinctly British feel - a huge event planned down to very smallest detail.

OLV is a vast site which at its peak capacity at Game’s time will cater for 203 countries with 17,000 athletes and officials requiring 1,200 NOC Games Maker assistants to support them – one of which is me.

I’m part of the70,000 army of Games Makers helping to  look after everything  including Services and Relations (the  Functional Area (FA)  I’m part of)  Security, Anti-Doping, Transport, Ticketing, Accreditation and so on.

Presentation as seen from near the back

The biblical scale of the training in place for we Games Makers is seen from the presentation area for the OLV VST I was booked on - the presenters were lost in the distance! And this was just one of several such sessions introducing the Athletes's Village to us Games Makers

One of the architects of the village Patel Taylor has produced a beautiful, spectacular  fly through of the Village which you can see here.

The actual tour was just little more – not much more - intimate than the presentation as we were split into groups of about 50. Sadly still too large to go inside and see the actual OLV apartments. We were only able  to stand outside while a seconded Holiday Inn - an 'Official Hotel Provider' - front of house manager cum guide explained what was inside.

Introducing the PolyClinic

The Village is zoned off into residential areas and number of other areas – Transport Mall, Village Plaza and an Operational area containing  Organisation, Gymnasium, Poly clinic.

The Residential Area Being Explained

The residential area is further zoned into three themed areas  -  English Countryside, English  Heritage.

English Seaside - with each zone’s apartments and public areas eponymously styled. I really wanted to see inside a Heritage apartment complete with red mats in the style of facsimiles of a World War II poster which has since become ubiquitous with its request to KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON - wonder what the athletes will make of that mat's request the night before an Olympic final!

Foyer of a Seaside Apartment Block

I did however have a glimpse inside the a Seaside foyer (equivalent to an hotel’s reception area). The designers  have really caught the vision and created an airy, light open space with its furniture’s  colour and shape evocative of the bracing British seaside  – the multi-coloured stripped deck-chair like seating and the sandy coloured, pebble shaped sofas and chairs – and not just any beach the foyer  evoked Southwold that quintessential , enigmatic British seaside town with its renowned, idiosyncratic , multi coloured beach huts.

Southwold Beach  and Huts - Summer 2011

One last thing  I noted  on my tour of the Athlete's Village is its landscaping  and its Art Works. The green areas, gardens and Plaza all looked magnificent even on a cold wet day - English Countryside!  And for once the architects' concept drawings matching the reality - no need to wait for the trees to grow, they are all there now along with many other plants and lawns creating verdant, vibrant public spaces!

The Art Works set against these magnificent buildings and that landscaping with the overall back drop of the Olympic Park dominated by Stadium and the Olympic Tower created some extraordinary vistas. I plan to write more about the Village's and Park's Art on my Contemporary Art Blog Assisted Readymades , meanwhile below is a work to give you a flavour of what can be seen.

Anna Chromy's 'Olympic Spirit'

So much for the introduction to the village, the afternoon ended with me being given my NOC Assistants mobile phone and the 301 page London 2012 Chef de Mission manual...more of on them later!