Forgotten Integration: An investigation into the integration of Post-Olympic Parks

The Summer Olympics occur every four years, capturing the hearts of the world for a nite period of time. During this time, the eyes of the world are set on the host city of whom provide a facility and an infrastructure to accommodate not only the athletes, but the millions of spectators that attend the events and the memorable moments that ensue.  While the Summer Olympics and it’s park are focused heavily upon during the games, integration of the site into the host city has become largely forgotten post-Olympics. Ultimately, these once vast locations have now become deserted and dystopia environments within the host city. This thesis addresses the problem of integrating Olympic parks back into the context of the host city by enabling new and diverse spaces. The work of Charles Waldheim, Rem Koolhaas, Alex Wall, Tricia Cusack and Dennis Saunders are employed over five main ideas: wetland urbanism, urban grid, edge extension, fragmented distribution and landscape occupation.  Strategic integration of post-Olympic Sites into the existing host city can arguably be done so by creating a multi-programmatic system that adapts and transforms to respond to the dynamic needs of both the Olympic Site and the local urban context of the surrounding city.  This thesis considers the task of integrating the Sydney Olympic Park back into Sydney’s context, transforming its current form into a state of integration with the host city that is successful. The thesis produces a design, based on five key design principles which have been created through conclusions of research: wetlands, extension, grid, distribution and occupation.