New York reveals Olympic Village plans

The bid committee for New York’s 2012 Olympic campaign has announced the top five finalist designs for its Olympic Village development.

The finalists – Henning Larsen (Denmark), MVRDV (The Netherlands), Morphosis (USA), Smith-Miller & Hawkinson (USA) and Zaha Hadid (UK) – all presented their work at a launch ceremony, which included a speech from the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg.

Bloomberg said: “The 2012 Olympic Games would have an unprecedented and enduring impact on New York City and the benefits would be felt in all five boroughs.”

“The Games would create 125,000 jobs and generate $11bn into our economy. It would spur the largest investment in parks and recreation facilities in the City’s history – all privately paid for,” he added.

The proposed site of the village is Queens West and would house 16,000 athletes and members of the Olympic family.

Following the event, the village would provide residential housing for up to 18,000 New Yorkers.

Helen Marshall, president of Queens Borough, said: “These five designs represent the best from an international search to create the best possible site for athletes – and housing when the Olympians go home.”

“These designs put the athletes at the centre of the games and uphold the true spirit of the Olympic movement, while forming the model for future urban housing,” she said.

The eight-strong panel for the design competition considered a number of entries after its launch in September 2003.

The five finalists competed in a 14-week planning and design study. The winning design will be announced in May later this year.

Nine cities, including New York, have made official bids to host the 2012 Olympic Games. The other bid cities are Havana (Cuba), Istanbul (Turkey), Leipzig (Germany), Madrid (Spain), England (London), Moscow (Russia), Paris (France) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).

The International Olympic Committee will announce the winning bid on 6 July 2005. Details: www.nyc2012.com or www.olympics.org