Steel structure of Zaha Hadid's

Aquatics Centre

Student: Voiculet-Bursuc Zenaida

Class: 3306
Year: 2015

Concept
A concept inspired by the fluid geometry of water in motion,
creating spaces and a surrounding environment in sympathy
with the river landscape of the Olympic Park. An undulating roof
sweeps up from the ground as a wave, enclosing the pools of
the Centre with its unifying gesture.

Construction started in July 2008 and was completed in

July 2011. The aluminium roof covering has been provided by
Kalzip. The steel structure was built in cooperation with Watson
Steel Structures (owned by Severfield-Rowen). The ceiling was
built with 30,000 sections of Red Lauro timber. The six-board
dive tower is made from 462 tonnes of concrete. The steel roof
weighs 3,200 tonnes. The three pools hold around 10 million
litres of water.
Layout
The Aquatics Centre is planned on an orthogonal axis that is

perpendicular to the Stratford City Bridge. All three pools are

aligned on this axis. The training pool is located under the
bridge with the competition and diving pools located within the
large pool hall enclosed by the roof. The overall strategy is to
frame the base of the pool hall as a podium connected to the
Stratford City Bridge

The pool hall is expressed above the podium by a large

roof which arches along the same
axis as the pools. Its form is
generated by the sightlines of the
17,500 spectators in its Olympic
mode. Double-curvature geometry
has been used to generate a
parabolic arch structure that
creates the unique characteristics
of the roof.
The main atraction at this building is the roof, which gives
the building its visual identity. It sweeps upwards in a smooth
curve from the south end and gently down again at the north,
while the east and west sides flare upwards at each edge.

Steel truss structural system

The structural system used to create the form of the roof
comprises a series of long-span steel trusses laid in a fan
arrangement.
At the north end of the roof, the transfer truss is supported
by two reinforced concrete cores spaced 54m apart, each
measuring approximately 4m x 10m, and supported via fixed
spherical bearings.
At the south end of the roof, the fan trusses are supported
by a transverse truss which is, in turn, supported on a
reinforced concrete wall 10m tall and 25m wide, via sliding
spherical bearings two free bearings sliding north-south and
east-west and one guided bearing sliding north-south but
resisting wind loads in the east-west direction.
Spherical bearings have been used to connect the roof structure
to the substructure. These allow for a degree of rotation
required at the supports as the roof deflects, as well as for

resisting very large loads. The bearings will need to

accommodate significant horizontal movements throughout the
buildings life.
All the trusses are formed from fabricated H-sections, and
the plates used to form these are of varying thicknesses, up to
115mm.
The roofs overall stability is provided by a system of horizontal
and diagonal cross braces in the roof surface between the top
chords of the fan trusses. Structural members and connections
will be fully concealed since the roof structure is fully clad and
features a timber soffit to its underside.
The curved roof soffit is being lined with approximately 37,000
timber strips, each 2.5m long. The timber used is red louro, a
sustainably sourced Brazilian hardwood, chosen for its durability
and its ability to withstand a humid environment.
The timber is screwed to a substrate of counter battens
fixed back to a Kerto sub-frame which is suspended from the
structural steel to form the overall geometry of the timber
cladding surface. The strips had to be laid exactly parallel to the
main pool to help swimmers doing backstroke to swim straight.