Parc Olympique - Montreal Photograph by Juergen Weiss

Parc Olympique - Montreal

by Juergen Weiss

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Title

Parc Olympique - Montreal

Artist

Juergen Weiss

Medium

Photograph

Description

Parc Olympique / Olympic Stadium (French: Stade Olympique) is a multi-purpose stadium in Canada, located at Olympic Park in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district of Montreal.

Built in the mid-1970s as the main venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics, it is nicknamed "The Big O", a reference to both its name and to the doughnut-shape of the permanent component of the stadium's roof. It is also called "The Big Owe" to reference the astronomical cost of the stadium and the 1976 Olympics as a whole.

The stadium is the largest by seating capacity in Canada. After the Olympics, artificial turf was installed and it became the home of Montreal's professional baseball and football teams.

The Montreal Alouettes of the CFL returned to their previous home of Molson Stadium in 1998 for regular season games, but continued to use Olympic Stadium for playoff and Grey Cup games until 2014 when they returned to Molson Stadium for all of their games.

Following the 2004 baseball season, the Expos relocated to Washington, D.C. to become the Washington Nationals. The stadium currently serves as a multipurpose facility for special events (e.g. concerts, trade shows) with a permanent seating capacity of 56,040. The capacity is expandable with temporary seating.

The Montreal Impact of Major League Soccer (MLS) use the venue on occasion, when larger capacity is needed or when the weather restricts outdoor play at nearby Saputo Stadium in the spring months.

The stadium has not had a main tenant since the Expos left in 2004. Despite decades of use, the stadium's history of numerous structural and financial problems has largely branded it a white elephant.

Incorporated into the north base of the stadium is the Montreal Tower, the world's tallest inclined tower at 175 metres (574 ft). The stadium and Olympic Park grounds border Maisonneuve Park, which includes the Montreal Botanical Garden, adjacent to the west across Rue Sherbrooke (Route 138).

As early as 1963, Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau sought to build a covered stadium in Montreal. A covered stadium was thought to be all but essential for Drapeau's other goal of bringing a Major League Baseball team to Montreal, given the cold weather that can affect the city in April, October and sometimes even September.

In 1967, soon after the National League granted Montreal an expansion franchise for 1969, Drapeau wrote a letter promising that any prospective Montreal team would be playing in a covered stadium by 1971. However, even as powerful as he was, he did not have the power to make such a guarantee on his own authority. Just as Charles Bronfman, who was slated to become the franchise's first owner, was ready to walk away, Drapeau had his staffers draw up a proposal for a stadium. It was enough to persuade Bronfman to continue with the effort.

The stadium was designed by French architect Roger Taillibert to be an elaborate facility featuring a retractable roof, which was to be opened and closed by cables suspended from a huge 175-metre (574 ft) tower – the tallest inclined structure in the world, and the sixth tallest structure in Montreal. The design of the stadium resembles that of the Australian Pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan. Soon after Montreal was awarded the 1976 Games, Drapeau struck a secret deal with Taillibert to build the stadium. It only came to light in 1972.

The Olympic swimming pool is located under this tower. An Olympic velodrome (since converted to the Montreal Biodome, an indoor nature museum) was situated at the base of the tower in a building similar in design to the swimming pool. The building was built as the main stadium for the 1976 Summer Olympic Games. The stadium was host to various events including the opening and closing ceremonies, athletics, football finals, and the team jumping equestrian events.

The building's design is cited as a masterpiece of Organic Modern architecture. Taillibert based the building on plant and animal forms, aiming to include vertebral structures with sinews or tentacles, while still following the basic plans of Modern architecture.

The stadium was originally slated to be finished in 1972, but the grand opening was cancelled due to a construction workers strike. Further delays ensued due to the stadium's unusual design. Additionally, Taillibert was not willing to back down from his original vision of the stadium even in the face of escalating costs for raw materials. It did not help that the original project manager, Trudeau et Associés, seemed to be incapable of handling some of the most basic construction tasks. The Quebec provincial government finally lost patience with the delays and cost overruns in 1974, and threw Taillibert off the project.

Additionally, the project was plagued by circumstances beyond anyone's control. Work slowed to a snail's pace for a third of the year due to Montreal's typically brutal winters. As a result, the stadium and tower remained unfinished at the opening of the 1976 Olympic Games.

The roof materials languished in a warehouse in Marseille until 1982, and the tower and roof were not completed until 1987. It would be another year before the 66-tonne, 5,500 m2 (59,000 sq ft) Kevlar roof could retract. Even then, it could not be used in winds above 40 km/h (25 mph). Ultimately, it was only opened and closed 88 times. (Resource Wikipedia).