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A blue lifeguard chair with a pink seat stands beside a still swimming pool. The pool reflects the chair and a large, dark architectural opening in a concrete wall.

Janie Airey captures London Olympic architecture with abstract flair

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Date
15 November 2012

We’ve been waiting to see some artfully shot photographs of this year’s Olympic architecture – those astounding structures are owed some much-deserved lens love – and finally we’ve found them courtesy of photographer Janie Airey. Janie’s magnificent images capture some of the event’s stand-out venues in crisp definition, abstracting their unique and innovative features in ways you wouldn’t expect. Commissioned by the Olympic Delivery Authority they offer a surprisingly fresh take on corporate architectural photography and serve as a wonderful legacy to a Games that we still can’t quite shake off.

Three diving boards extend over a swimming pool in a brutalist concrete hall. A large, blank white screen hangs on the wall behind the platforms.
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Janie Airey: Olympic Structure

A white, semi-transparent dugout with a row of blue seats sits on a black surface. Behind it, a bright pink wall meets a deep blue background in a sharp horizontal line.
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Janie Airey: Olympic Structure

A wide, curved white roof stretches across the frame under a clear blue sky. Below it, a low white wall separates the structure from a flat, sandy ground divided by a straight drainage channel.
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Janie Airey: Olympic Structure

A low-angle view from beneath a large, cream-coloured fabric canopy. The structure is held up by a network of dark metal beams and supports.
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Janie Airey: Olympic Structure

A curved wooden ceiling made of narrow, parallel slats. Below the curve, a grid of windows reveals a glimpse of a green space.
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Janie Airey: Olympic Structure

An indoor swimming pool with clear blue water. Dark blue lane markers run in parallel lines across the pool floor.
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Janie Airey: Olympic Structure

Rows of white seats fill a tiered auditorium, separated from a wide, pale marble floor by a glass railing. The clean lines of the architecture create a sharp diagonal divide across the frame.
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Janie Airey: Olympic Structure

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About the Author

James Cartwright

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James started out as an intern in 2011 and came back in summer of 2012 to work online and latterly as Print Editor, before leaving in May 2015.

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