The brief from SOCOG was to design a “Kit of Parts” comprising of signage, banner pole, venue marker and gateway structures, which would be used as an overlay across the different Olympic precincts during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
The Kit of Parts has three main functions. Firstly, it must provide a visually cohesive and exciting Olympic image and experience for the visitor. Secondly, it has to perform a major wayfinding role to assist in orientating vast numbers of spectators through a series of unfamiliar Olympic Precincts and environments spread across the Sydney Regional area. Thirdly, the elements must respond to and counter variations in scale ranging from pedestrian scale, to city scale, to rural scale.
The Look of the “Kit of Parts” draws freely on the pool of images and structures reminiscent of our coast dwelling and harbour loving culture, from surf lifesaving towers and shade canopies to sails and outrigger structures. The Kit of Parts unlike many of the larger structures and venues in the Olympic Landscape is temporary and not a part of the Games legacy. Within this temporary and ephemeral framework comes a freedom from many traditional pragmatic construction issues. It also allows the structures to be fun and perform as iconic and memorable counterpoints to the permanent buildings in the Olympic landscape.