Design body softens stance on Allies & Morrison's designs after architect submits revisions

The government's design watchdog has softened its stance on Allies & Morrison and RPS Burks Green's designs for the 2012 media centre buildings.

Following Cabe's Olympic design review panel's savaging of the original designs, the architects took the scheme back to the drawing board.

The results are 鈥渆ncouraging鈥, says Cabe, with the international broadcast centre designs showing a 鈥渕ore rigorous and considered facade strategy鈥 and the main press centre's external detailing showing 鈥減romise鈥.

media centre's car park
The media centre's car park will now be clad in perforated metal to create a 鈥渄istinctive identity鈥

Cabe's Olympic design review panel also praised a new design for the media centre's car park, which will now be clad in perforated metal to give the building a 鈥渄istinctive identity鈥.

The comments are a sea change from Cabe's review of 23 April, when it labelled the buildings' architecture as 鈥渆xtremely weak鈥 and slammed the international broadcast centre for its 鈥渆xtraordinary banality鈥.

In the wake of that humbling review, architect Allies & Morrison reviewed the cladding scheme for both buildings and has made improvements that have found favour with the design quango's review panel.

The review said: 鈥淲e believe that the revisions to each of the three main elements now demonstrate a continuity of design thinking across the site. With the appropriate planning conditions in place we believe the revisions create the potential for a viable design outcome, both during and after Games.鈥