Olympic Stadium, Montreal
The multi-purpose stadium built as the main venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada is popularly known as ‘The Big O’, because of the doughnut-shape of its permanent roof. After the Olympics, artificial turf was laid and it became a venue for baseball and football.
As one of the most unusual stadiums in the world, it has been described as a ‘masterpiece of Organic Modern architecture’, with a design based on plant and animal forms, integrating modernism and organic vertebral structures.
Designed by French architect Roger Taillibert, it originally featured an elaborate retractable roof, opened and closed by cables suspended from a 175 m (574 ft) tower at the northern base of the stadium - the tallest inclined structure in the world.
However, it has been described as a ‘white elephant’, and has been beset by controversy since its inception, not least for the delays in the construction. Work began in 1974 with 2.3 million cubic metres of clay and limestone being excavated and hauled away. But severe delays followed due to harsh winter weather and workforce strikes.
The inclined tower and 66-tonne, 5,500 sq. m Kevlar retractable roof were eventually finished in 1987. It was another year before the roof could retract and after that was limited to wind speeds of below 25 mph (40 km/h). It was only ever opened and closed 88 times, and after a number of incidents resulting in holes torn in the fabric, it was replaced with a fixed roof in 1991.
To most Montrealers, the stadium is mockingly referred to as ‘The Big Owe’, in reference to the exorbitant total costs - $1.47 billion - which were only finally paid off in November 2006. The stadium had initially been budgeted at $134 million.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
PPN 021: Payment Spot Checks in Public Sub-Contracts
Published following consultation and influence from ECA.
Difficult Sites: Architecture Against the Odds
Free exhibition at the RIBA Architecture Gallery until 31 May.
Designing Buildings reaches 20,000 articles
We take a look back at some of the stranger contributions.
Lessons learned from other industries.
The Buildings of the Malting Industry. Book review.
Conserving places with climate resilience in mind.
Combating burnout.
The 5 elements of seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke.
Shading for housing, a design guide
A look back at embedding a new culture of shading.
The Architectural Technology Awards
The AT Awards 2025 are open for entries!
ECA Blueprint for Electrification
The 'mosaic of interconnected challenges' and how to deliver the UK’s Transition to Clean Power.
Grenfell Tower Principal Contractor Award notice
Tower repair and maintenance contractor announced as demolition contractor.
Passivhaus social homes benefit from heat pump service
Sixteen new homes designed and built to achieve Passivhaus constructed in Dumfries & Galloway.
CABE Publishes Results of 2025 Building Control Survey
Concern over lack of understanding of how roles have changed since the introduction of the BSA 2022.
British Architectural Sculpture 1851-1951
A rich heritage of decorative and figurative sculpture. Book review.
A programme to tackle the lack of diversity.