Boston '24 Olympics execs want to build a "temporary 60,000-seat Olympic stadium in South Boston" that would "host the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the track and field events," according to a front-page piece by Michael Levenson of the BOSTON GLOBE. However, some architectural experts said that the plan "has no precedent ... and would pose a steep design, engineering, and financial challenge, all for a giant structure that would stand for about six to eight months." Levenson notes the temporary stadium "would need to meet intense security requirements and exacting track and field rules," and would "need space for locker rooms, drug testing, Olympic officials, and worldwide media." Georgia Tech associate professor of architecture Benjamin Flowers said that a 60,000-seat stadium "would be so large and complex that calling it a temporary structure would be inaccurate." Flowers: "What they are really saying is, build a full-on stadium and then demolish it. It strikes me as a curious proposition to suggest investing the many hundreds of millions it would take to do that to then demolish it and take it down." Boston '24 architect David Manfredi said that after the Olympics, the stadium’s parts "could be sold for use on other projects -- 5,000 seats, for example, could be sent to a high school football field." Boston '24 organizers "also want to build a partially removable 16,000-person Olympic Village in Dorchester, an aquatics center with 15,000 removable seats in Allston, and a temporary 5,000-seat velodrome in Somerville." Boston '24 execs "declined to release a cost estimate for the stadium." Levenson notes temporary arenas "have grown in popularity in recent years, particularly in Europe" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/15).
BENDING UNDER PRESSURE: The GLOBE's Levenson reports the Boston '24 committee, "under pressure to be more transparent, said Wednesday it will release more information to the public than it had previously planned." Boston '24 officials on Tuesday had said that the bid they submitted to the USOC "would be shown to the media, but not to the public." But the group yesterday "changed course, saying the media and public would both have access to as much information as possible." They said that next Wednesday, they "will release to the public the presentation." Boston '24 Exec VP Erin Murphy Rafferty "did not elaborate on what details would be in the documents that are being released or withheld" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/15).
