The London 2012 aquatics centre, arguably the most eagerly anticipated venue on the Olympic park, is finally complete. For a Games that has conspicuously prioritised legacy over architectural extravagance, Zaha Hadid's £269m aquatics centre was originally pitched as the star of the show, the sole venue that could live up to the kind of visionary spectacle we saw at Beijing in 2008. So, does it live up to the hype? Internally, there is no question that it does. The main auditorium is truly spectacular, a swirling cavern of curved timber and flowing, beautifully honed concrete. The bulging roof, with its soffit clad in silver-finished pre-weathered timber strips, rises from only three points on the concrete podium below before swooping voluptuously into the space above. Along its incredible 120m unsupported span, it dips only momentarily to subtly reflect the division between the two pools that inhabit the main arena: the competition pool and smaller diving pool.
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