The new designs were included in the planning application for the venue which was submitted today.

 

The Handball Arena will be in the West of the Olympic Park, to the South of the Hockey Centre, within four minutes of the Olympic Village.

 

But the capacity of the Arena has been cut from the original 10,000 to 7,000 partly to save costs but also to help make it easier to convert the arena after the Games into a multi-sports and events venue.

 

The Arena will stage the handball preliminaries and quarter finals as well as the Modern Pentathlon disciplines of Fencing and Shooting.

 

The semi-finals and finals of the handball will then be held at the Basketball Arena, which has a capacity of 12,000.

 

It will also be the Goalball venue during the Paralympic Games.

 

In legacy mode after the Games, the Arena will become a multi-sports venue with retractable seating for 6,000 spectators and flexible facilities to hold a range of training and competition events of all levels.

 

It will cater for a wide-range of indoor sports including basketball, handball, badminton, netball and volleyball, boosting the sporting facilities provided across the Olympic Park.

 

The Handball Arena, designed by Make Architects with PTW and Arup, features external copper cladding to give it a distinctive appearance that will develop a rich natural colour as it ages.

 

The concourse level features glazing which encircles the building, enabling visitors to the Olympic Park to view sport taking place inside, and illuminating the venue when lit at night.

 

The venue also has a vibrant and multi-coloured interior, with retractable seating to create a flexible space and with 100 light pipes in the ceiling to allow natural light into the venue.

 

ODA chairman John Armitt said: “This is a simple, sustainable and flexible design that works well for the Games and legacy.

 

"The colourful interior will help boost the Games time experience for athletes and spectators, and in legacy will become a modern, practical and attractive facility for local people of all abilities to enjoy a range of sports.

 

"The copper-cladding sets the venue in the surrounding parklands and will look even more striking as it changes over time.”

 

Sebastian Coe, the chairman of London 2012, said: “This is another example of the Games acting as a catalyst for a state-of-the-art sporting facility which will be a high-quality venue at Games-time, whilst also providing a legacy for sport in London and the UK . 

 

"The fact that handball will have its own arena at Games-time will be a great boost to the sport in this country and it will be a multi-purpose arena after the Games.”

 

Jules Pipe, the Mayor of Hackney, said: "The new multi-sports venue is a major opportunity to develop a world class facility for Hackney residents which is accessible and suitable for a range of community sports as part of the legacy of the 2012 Games.

 

"Hackney already has high quality, award-winning sports facilities, and the Council is continuing to invest in these to offer all our residents access to healthier lifestyles through sport and physical activity.

 

"When London 's Olympic and Paralympic Games have gone, the multi-sports Arena will remain as a venue for local people and visitors.”

 

In legacy mode the the venue will include a health and fitness club with changing facilities and a café for use by the local community and offer a 2,743 square metre field of play hosting a number of sports including five-a-side football, netball, basketball, volleyball, badminton, table tennis, handball and futsal.

 

The ODA also claimed that in legacy it could also be adapted to host hockey, martial arts, kabaddi, dodgeball, wheelchair basketball, fencing, sitting volleyball, goalball and wheelchair rugby.

 

Ricky Burdett, the ODA's principal design advisor, said: “The Handball Arena occupies an important urban lynchpin, acting as a bridge between the Olympic Park and the existing urban neighbourhoods to the "est in Hackney and Tower Hamlets.

 

"The design is a bold and refined architectural statement: a rectilinear volume raised on a platform that addresses the street and a large podium overlooking the park.

 

"At night the internal activities will be visible through the horizontal glazed slot that defines the edge of the building.”

 

Five firms - Barr, Buckingham Group, Byrne Group, Mansell Construction Services and Verry Construction - have been shortlisted to build the Arena.

 

The ODA said it hoped to appoint a successful bidder by spring 2009 with work to start on site next summer.