Buildings in use - The Copper Box

Design
The Copper Box is one of the sports venues in the Olympic Park, Stratford in London which opened in 2012. The London based architects Make won the initial competition to design the Handball Arena in 2007, and they designed the Copper Box purposefully intending that this should be different to other sports arenas. Inside is a 2750 square metre field of play and retractable seating for up to 7000 people. After the Paralympic games, the venue will operate as a leisure and training facility for use by the local community.

The Copper Box - from the work area

 The exterior shape is a simple rectangular box clad in recycled copper. The reason for choosing this cladding material is not given in any sources that I have found. I am not sure to what extent this is functional or merely decorative.
Rather like G-Live in Guildford, the building is built on sloping ground. On the side where the ground level is higher, the main entrance gives public access directly to the first floor and upper floor seating and audience facilities. On the opposite side where the ground level is lower there are entrances to the field of play, athletes facilities, media rooms and other work areas.
Whilst Make claim in one of their publications ("Sport- the Sport and Culture Magazine from Make Architects") that the Copper Box is "one of the most impressive and eye-catching venues in the Olympic Park", it has drawn little attention in the media as far as I could find. For example, an article by Hugh Pearman, architecture critic of the Sunday Times, London and editor of the Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects in the Wall Street Journal includes not a single comment on the Copper Box or its design. I suspect that one reason for this is that the external forms of the other venues are so striking visually whereas externally the Copper Box is so plain and regular. Indeed it was quite a challenge to find a photographic viewpoint and lighting conditions which would show the building in a favorable way.
Sources
Make Architects - www.makearchitects.com
The Architects Journal 19th June 2012 - www.architectsjournal.co.uk
Olympic Delivery Authority - The Big Build Foundations (July 2008) and The Big Build Foundations: Delivered (July 2009)
Photography
During the Olympic Games, various groups of users were present in the Copper Box - the athletes who were there to play in the matches, the public who were there to watch the games, the media and photographers who were there to report on the competition, and the workforce who were there to make it happen. My role  as a volunteer fortunately gave me access to the public areas and part of the workforce area. However, the field of play, the athletes and media areas were tightly restricted and I was unable to enter these areas.
Faced with a choice of photographing the public area or workforce area, I have chosen photographs that show the arena as it is seen by the public audience. The workforce areas were  far less photogenic - e.g. the Sports administration offices, the IT department and the workforce canteen were just like those in many other organizations.
Image 1

The Copper Box during an Olympic Handball match

Panasonic Lumix 10-30 mm at 14mm (equivalent to 42mm for full frame sensor): Iso 400 f 5.6 for 1/40th second
The venue was generally full for the Olympic handball games, but I could view the games from an open area where those unable to use the tiered seating (e.g. wheelchair users) could sit and view the match. I was able to return to take photos during the competitions and tried various viewpoints for taking photos.
As my purpose was to show the building in use rather than the handball players, one of the options I tried was to stand back and use the people seated in this open area as foreground. I selected this image as this was a moment in the match when several players were visible in the small area of the field of play between the figures.

The Copper Box during a match without foreground figures

The more obvious viewpoint looking down over the pitch, without foreground figures is shown for comparison. I feel that the foreground figures are a valuable addition to the photograph in this particular case:-

• The figures provide graphical shapes which give the photograph more initial visual impact. Without the foreground interest, there is an evenness over the whole frame which is slightly dull when viewed from afar.
• I think that there is the potential for more a more interactive experience for the viewer. The foreground space and figures seem to invite the viewer to look between them at the scene behind. The viewer can more easily imagine being a part of the audience. In the absence of these figures the view of the match seems more passive and it is more difficult for a viewer to see themselves in the scene.
• The size of the field of play that is visible is much smaller as it is partly obscured by the foreground. As a result, the main subject of the photograph is the spectators. This is what I am aiming for. Without  the foreground figures, the bright coloured pitch and the players are the most prominent visual element and the spectators take a background place.  

I wanted to find another photograph that I could pair with image 1 for the purposes of this assignment. I could use one of my photos where the handball game was the subject, rather than the audience. I also had taken photographs of the stadium before the handball competition started and after the handball pitch had been removed and the building was refitted for the modern pentathlon fencing competition. After reviewing the various options, I picked a photograph of the handball arena when it was empty.
Image 2

The Copper Box - just before the Games

Panasonic Lumix FX33 4.6 - 16.4mm at 4.6mm (equivalent to 28mm for full frame sensor): Iso 100 f 2.8 for 1/60th second
I took this photograph during the introduction session to the venue with my wife's 8 megapixel point and shoot Panasonic Lumix camera. This camera has an aperture priority mode and exposure adjustment settings which give reasonable control over exposure. It has a relatively fast lens when used on wide angle enabling me to use an ISO of 100. Despite the wide aperture, the photograph is reasonably sharp when printed at 5 x 9 for this assignment.
This image seems to complement image 1 because the dominant element in the frame is the handball pitch which is largely obscured in image 1. This field of play is the vital heart of the venue and everything else is designed around this. It is clear that the composition on its own is an unremarkable photographic record of the interior. However, the calm and quiet of this image contrasts with and seems to enhance the tense atmosphere of image 1.  Fortunately the bright colours and converging lines of seats and rows of lights bring some vitality and depth to the picture.
I feel that these two contrasting views were an effective way of showing the structure of the interior space in one photograph, and the use of the interior space in the other.