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back to article Just how do you build the perfect Olympic stadium?

On 27 July, London will be transformed as the biggest celebration of sports in the world kicks off in the newly built Olympic Stadium in Stratford. The stadium has been designed to hold 80,000 people, and the Olympic Village will certainly hold many more. On a normal day, Stratford tube station handles somewhere between 220, …

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  1. TeeCee Gold badge
    Happy

    Pompeii: "Everyone went.”

    Which just goes to show that, if you want bums on seats, two big blokes hacking chunks off each other with swords is a better bet than athletics.....

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All this for a 2 week sportsday. Obscene.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Olympics? London?

    When did that get announced, I haven't heard anything about it on the news.

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  4. Andy Fletcher

    How do you build the perfect Olympic stadium?

    Here's how.

    1. Don't bid to host the games.

    2. Bid to be the contractor that builds the stadium in the country dumb enough to think hosting the games will benefit them. Don't worry if it's Greece, Germany will pay.

    3. Profit.

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  5. Simon B
    Thumb Up

    Interesting and fascinating

    I found this a fascinating and interesting read! Not sure that's a good thing all things geeky in to consideration! but I enjoyed the article, well written and well explained :)

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  6. Richard IV
    Headmaster

    Newton seconds measure impulse, not pressure. Pressure comes in Pascals or Newtons per square metre.

    I could build a stadium closer to perfection than that at Pompeii - the design would be suspiciously similar but well away from an active volcano.

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  7. Nick Ryan Silver badge

    8 to 15 people per square metre

    How?

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    1. David Barrett
      Reply Icon

      Re: 8 to 15 people per square metre

      Four of these and a big blender?

      http://www.diy.com/nav/garden/garden-care-watering/watering-irrigation/water_butts___accessories/-specificproducttype-water_butts/Sankey-Standard-Waterbutt-1200-210L-9218468

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    2. Neil Barnes Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: 8 to 15 people per square metre

      How? Well, if you assume 50cm across the shoulders and 25cm front to back, that's an easy eight... I suppose that any more an you're into multi-levels.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: 8 to 15 people per square metre

        People don't have corners, so they'll pack more like circles than squares, which should give you a few more

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Great article.

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    1. Andy Fletcher
      Reply Icon

      Great comment

      Did you write it yourself?

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  9. nijam Silver badge

    I wonder who they asked about the stewards? Most people think anyone wearing hi-vis is an annoying and obstructive jobsworth. (Even when the law says they have to wear hi-vis.)

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  10. hugo tyson
    FAIL

    He said kN/s

    ...which I suspect means even less as a physical quantity, but maybe they mean force averaged over one second. Can't tell from 'ere...

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  11. Alan Firminger

    1, 2

    1 Following the example of Pompeii our new Olympic Stadium has no internal toilets.

    2 Can someone explain how crowd movement is going to work if the stadium is used by a Premier League or First division football club with 20,000 angry spectators going home through the Westfield Centre.

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    1. Alan Firminger
      Reply Icon

      ERROR ERROR ERROR

      I remember now, it is not Westfield it is something else. But you know what I mean.

      i am glad to get here before anyone has commented on this. I have in other places several times earned 10 screens of rebuke for an error. I understand why machines are so intolerant, but why are geeks ?

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 1, 2

      But no-one is going to use it for football. No football club wants an athletics track between the spectators and the pitch. And because the government has already committed to world athletics, it's not going to get dug up any time soon.

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  12. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    The science is fascinating

    ...and will lead to safer public events.

    That London is going to be a hell-hole for all but a few audience members and participants for the sake of a big-event show is obscene.

    Thank god I no longer live near Ilford and work in the City. Stratford is on the way, just about however one tries. Happily, I'm a long way away now.

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  13. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Sounds feasible!

    Lets hope Populous is right (rather apt surname).

    As we all know, architects in the 50's and 60's had massive success with their high rise towns, underpasses and pedestrian walkways.

    They spent inordinate amounts of time dwelling on how people would mill about, how they would play, congregate and get from their places of work to these wonderful new towns in the sky.

    History shows us what a magical success calculating human behaviour according to set patterns was, as these towns in the sky became the envy of the modern world. Everyone did exactly as the town planners anticipated.

    I'm sure the planing behind this stadium will demonstrate how easy it is to second guess how people will react to an architectural space.

    This is an ideal example. The tube never shuts, the toilets never close, the ticket office is never overwhelmed, there isn't any traffic jams, there's always enough food and water, the weather never misbehaves, and neither do the punters. The computer model says so.

    Architects, as we all know, are infallible.

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  14. Barry Rueger

    Deepest Condolences

    As one of the poor unfortunates working in the biggest stadium at Vancouver's 2010 Winter Olympics, I can offer nothing but sympathy to the people of London. Please understand that this event is not for you - it's for the TV networks, sponsors, and the anointed high-priests of the Olympic Movement.

    Local bylaws? Labour standards? Safety regulations? None of those apply in the Duchy of Olympic.

    Olympics make it impossible to get to work? To service your customers? To access essential services? Too bad.

    Oh yeah, and if they tell you that the Olympic Village suites will sell out as condos and turn a profit... well, that's right up there with "The Games will be under budget" and "I'll respect you in the morning.

    And remember, the day after the final ceremony all of the problems, expenses, and headaches become yours. The Olympic gurus will gone so fast the dust won't have time to settle.

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  15. Christian Berger

    Munich uses one interresting measure of crowd control

    They use special words to change the mood of the people during the Oktoberfest. Here's the subway station leading the the Oktoberfest on a not to busy day.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ijEhDMn_l4

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