Yesterday Jonathan Glancey defended Zaha Hadid and the team working on the 2012 Olympics Aquatic Centre. I’m sure the free papers would describe it as him hitting back or lashing out at the accusations that rising costs on the beautiful Centre. Personally I think he’s just talking sense – although regular readers will know I’m a fan of Ms Hadid so I could always be biased!

It is the architectural high note of the Olympic build in my mind and I think it would be a tragedy if the costs and controversies surrounding the larger project overshadowed the building. Hadid seems to have a lot of problems like this on her UK projects and I think it’s remarkable that she always keeps her head down, weathers the storm and keeps coming back to offer us new wonders for our landscape. I’m not sure we entirely deserve it but I’m very glad she does!

In case you’re unfamiliar with the building in question here’s an animation showing it off:

The shape of the roof is symbolic of the flow of water and it always makes me think of sea life – some kind of stingray or eel perhaps..?