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Innovation

Designing an Olympic Village with a green afterlife for Rio 2016

The winning design of the Olympic Village for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio call for a green neighborhood to replace the village when the games end.
Written by Tyler Falk, Contributor

To host the Olympics cities must make a hefty investment in new Olympic-specific infrastructure. These Olympic villages are intended to accommodate a surge of people during the 16-day event, but then the space goes empty.

So when Rio de Janeiro was considering designs for their Olympic village for the 2016 Summer Olympics they were looking for one with an eye towards the city's post-Olympic future. The winning design, by the British firm AECOM, does just that. The design will transform the area into a green neighborhood by 2029. Check out the video of the design:

The village is focused on 300 acres in southwest Rio and will host 15 Olympic and 11 Paralympic contests throughout its life hosting sporting events. But when the games are over the area will become more of an asset than a burden to the community.

"The Olympic Park will be an urban development of international standard, which not only promotes the best in design, technology, sports and culture, but also satisfies intrinsic urgent and vital needs to its residents, businesses and the environment. Using our experience, we want to ensure that the investment and energy focused on the Barra neighborhood will promote the greatest possible benefit in the long term," says Bill Hanway of AECOM.

In the plan's "legacy mode" following the games, the site will make way for 60 percent of the area to be developed around the permanent structures in the neighborhood. And besides the infill development, there will be a focus on restoring the surrounding lagoon and permeable pavement. Turning the space into a green urban neighborhood.

Photo: Rio 2016

[Via Planetizen]

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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