65
april 2015
international
construction
SITEREPORT
Olympic vision
Also on this part of the site is an 800-room hotel for the press,
a ‘VIP’ hotel, numerous outdoor sports facilities, car parks,
restaurants and cafes.
All the buildings on the Olympic Complex are in the striking
architectural style that canbe seen throughout Ashgabat. Shortly
after gaining independence from theUSSR in1991, a distinctive
stylewas developed for the city, which sees newbuildings clad in
white marble with dark-tinted windows – often in dark blue to
contrast with themarble. Gold is used to highlight architectural
features and for lettering onbuildings.
By and large, the buildings are of a steel frame construction
design, but they are also complex because they need to meet a
variety of requirements anddesign specifications.
“We held a lot of meetings with international federations and
local representatives because Olympic facilities need to meet
certain standards, but they also need to meet the needs of local
athletes,” saidMrKarakus.
He added, “Another challenge is that we are building somany
different types of building – arenas, indoor venues, hotels, the
VIPhotel, themonorail, theOlympicVillage, and so on.
“Wehit a lot of existing services on this site, plus all theutilities
on this project are inter-linked - so you can’t just pick one
structure and go andbuild it.”
Andwithin each venue there are different challenges.The sheer
size of the buildings and their roof spans are perhaps the most
difficult. For example, the Velodrome has a 130m span end-to-
end, which involvedplacing a 350 tonne steel roof truss.
“Planning that lift alone was a real challenge in terms of
ensuring health& safety, themethod statement and so on,” said
MrKarakus.
Under construction
When
iC
visited the Olympic site in February, construction
work on Phase II of the project to the North of the site was in
full swing, with Phase III – the central portion containing the
45,000 seater outdoor arena and Olympic Village underway,
but at an earlier stage.The Olympic Village will comprise some
57,000m
2
of accommodation across 14 tower blocks.
The three main venues in Phase II are the 5,000 seater indoor
athletics arena, the aquatics centre, which also seats 5,000 and
features both indoor and outdoor 50 m racing pools as well as
deepdiving pools, and the 4,000 capacity indoor tennis arena.
In addition to the venues, spread across the three phases of
The 5,000-seater
indoor athletics
arena at the
Northern end of
the site.
The view down
the 50m indoor
pool, with the
diving pool
beyond. There is
also an outside
50m pool and
diving pool.
Inside the 15,000 seater indoor arena,
whichwill be used for basketball,
gymnastics, badminton and table
tennis, among other sports.
Finish quality
inside the
venues is high
and includes
upholstered
leather seats for
spectators.
