The Paris 2024 Olympics may have ended, but its legacy could live on by inspiring sustainable designs for future purpose-built university accommodation.
The games were the first to be aligned with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) new Olympic Agenda 2020, a strategic roadmap designed to encourage organisers and hosts to “do more with less” to reduce construction cost blowouts and the event’s carbon footprint.
And in an effort to make the Olympics more sustainable, organisers could have inspired some new eco-friendly building practices that would be well suited to future student accommodations within Australian universities.
By implementing some of the same energy-efficient systems, eco-friendly materials, and innovative design features used in constructing the Paris 2024 Olympic Village, Australian universities could ensure that future student housing demonstrates the same commitment to energy efficiency and sustainability as the games.
It’s an idea likely to inspire serious consideration among university decision-makers and third-party student accommodation providers as Australia’s tertiary education sector now faces a government ultimatum: build more student housing or have international student numbers cut.
Olympic Village rebuilds meaning of sustainability
The Paris 2024 Olympic Village was built to be the most sustainable athlete accommodation centre in history, with 94 per cent of building materials used were recovered from deconstruction projects.
Construction materials included sustainably sourced wood and recycled plastic, with all the wood sourced from eco-managed forests, ensuring at least 30 per cent was of French origin.
Even the furniture within the athlete accommodation took a sustainable focus, with the village’s infamous ‘sex proof beds’ made entirely out of cardboard, while the bedding and mattress incorporated nearly 100 per cent recycled materials.
Air conditioning was also missing, with games organisers instead option for a combination of high-quality insulation and a geothermal cooling system which piped cooled water through the walls to reduce the internal building temperature.
Organisers claimed this could ensure the inside temperature remained at least six degrees Celsius compared to outdoor conditions.
Meanwhile, the six hectares of green spaces, including 1.2 hectares of open ground, encouraged further cooling to create a cool island effect.
Influencing minds as well as construction
However, sustainable choices made at Paris 2024 could positively influence not just student housing construction but also the introduction of more eco-friendly designs, which will likely have a lasting impact on our leaders of tomorrow.
Master of Education teacher and former Southern Cross University futsal coach Tyrone Orr told Build-it that incorporating more sustainable student accommodation would help both university students and athletes remain aware of their own carbon footprint, assisting them to make more environmentally friendly choices later in life.
“Often young people can see new ideas such as cardboard beds, extra insulation or air conditioning alternatives and incorrectly dismiss them as either uncomfortable or ineffective,” he said.
“However, once they’ve tested them out and seen first-hand that they work, many would begin to ask themselves more sustainably focused questions like –Will I really need a house with air conditioning once I graduate? or how can I improve the insulation of my future home?”
“This ability to open the minds of our younger generation to more unconventional and sustainable practices can have a lasting positive impact on their way of thinking that will likely stay with them for the rest of their lives.”
However, while many of the sustainability efforts seen in Paris would work well within Australian student accommodation, others may be best left in the French capital.
Like the introduction of breakdancing as an Olympic sport, the event’s much-publicised cardboard beds are unlikely to see a future use elsewhere—at least without heavy adaptation.
The infamous cardboard box frames were slammed by numerous athletes on social media, with some saying they checked out of the Olympic Village due to their discomfort.
Like many other athletes, Swiss rower Celia Dupre changed accommodation after being unable to sleep in the “uncomfortable” cardboard beds at the Olympic Village.
“We stayed one night in the village, and I didn’t sleep,” she says in the viral clip.
“The cardboard box bed was so uncomfortable — hard as a rock. And then the Olympic duvet was really itchy, and it was really hot.”
