2012 OLYMPIC CANOE SLALOM VENUE

The London 2012 Whitewater Venue by S2o Design
S2o adjusting the physical model per Olympic Delivery Authority and ICF Direction
Samuel Hernandez racing in the London Test event
Rafting at the London 2012 Venue
The cover page of S2o's construction drawing package
The London 2012 Venue during the games
Freestyle at the London 2012 Venue
A silver medal run
The London 2012 venue featured a project S2o collaborated in to create a new moveable obstacle system called RapidBlocs.

Hertfordshire, England

Lee Valley Centre, the 2012 Olympic Venue, was cited by the International Canoe Federation (ICF) as the best use of design modeling, and the easiest course to tune to an Olympic Standard. S2O Design/EPDUK were commissioned to complete the design for this Olympic Venue on a rush basis. Within four months of receiving authority to proceed, our team reviewed all pertinent materials, recreated the entire drawing set, created both computer and physical models, and completed design documents for the most modern Whitewater Park in the world.

The S2o/EPDUK team continued to work with the Client to implement the design for construction, including construction oversight and project commissioning. The completed project was approved by the ICF, who cited the modeling and design as the most advanced and predictive ever used for a whitewater park.

The Lee Valley Whitewater Center has been a tremendous success with athletes, who reference its challenging, yet predictive, flows as ideal for competition. The athletes and coaches also applaud the RapidBloc moveable obstacle system, innovated by S2O Design and EPDUK for this course. The movable obstacle system is a tremendous step forward from previous systems, and is the future of whitewater slalom channels.

Project Highlights

  • S2o completed a remake of the master plan design documents, and created computer and a physical models within 12 weeks of receiving a contract.
  • Commissioned the park in a record 3 weeks.
  • Used advanced physical modeling to accurately predict flows and key features.
  • S2o and EPDUK worked with the contractor to ensure a fast and cost efficient build.
  • The project is equipped with the patented RapidBlocs™ obstacle system.