Olympic Viewing Platform

The event which I chose to design a viewing platform for was the diving. The emotive words which influenced my design were velocity, plummet, impact and transition. I wanted the user to experience the feeling of falling through air and then the transitional impact into water. First I analyzed the movements and travel of a diver, mapping the time it took from leaving the platform to entry into the water. The result was four seconds. When a diver enters the water they create a rip position which enables them to create as little splash as possible. This entry inspired me to look at fluid dynamics and undertake a series of experiments recording dropping an object into water evaluating the form of the splash. Further experiments with wax and molten solder dropped into cold water, enabled me to create fluid forms.


The form will be suspended above the diving pool so that users can view the event at all levels. The bottom levels will be encased in a glass frame and will be submerged in the water so that the user will experience the transition into the water like the diver does. The bottom levels will be opaque so that the user can view the diver when they enter the water. The user travels in the same direction as the diver but at a slower rate.

Platforms suspended in the metal frame allow access to all the levels via spiral staircases and act as a support to the fluid forms. The platforms are made from clear glass so that the user can see down all levels and experience the feeling of the fall. The fluid forms create voids for the user to explore inside, capturing a moment in time as if the splash the diver has made has been frozen. From these spaces the users can view the diver on their descent into the water. These forms would be rapid prototyped and with the aid of CAD transferred into a structure which then can be constructed.

Time based experiments exploring the spatial relationship of fluid dynamics by dropping molten solder into cold water. Each sample represents a second in the total four seconds it takes for a diver to enter the water. I deconstructed the formation of the sequence to create a new form which has resulted in my final design.