The Lee Valley VeloPark in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park—the celebrated track cycling venue from the London 2012 Games—is architecturally renowned for its sublime elegance and structural efficiency. Yet, in a bizarre and utterly unexpected twist of acoustic fate, this icon of modernist, high-performance design has found viral fame for an entirely different reason. Following fireworks displays near the structure, a distinct, deep, and highly compressed sound has been observed echoing from the building, a sound that the public, with characteristic British humour, has dubbed the “farting Velodrome.” This phenomenon, triggered by the intense pressure waves of the fireworks, is a fascinating and highly amusing case study in unintended acoustic consequence, demonstrating that even the most rigorously engineered architecture remains beholden to the playful, and sometimes rude, laws of physics.
The Pringle’s Perfection: Architecture of Efficiency
Designed by Hopkins Architects, the London Olympic Velodrome—affectionately nicknamed the “Pringle” for its distinctive saddle-shaped roofline—was conceived as a masterpiece of structural efficiency. The architects were tasked with creating the world’s fastest cycling track, and their solution was to design a building that was lightweight and elegant, mirroring the efficient design of the bicycle itself.
Completed in early 2011, the structure is defined by its innovative double-curving, cable-net roof. This design is significantly lighter than any other covered velodrome in the world, requiring far less material and therefore contributing substantially to the venue’s status as one of the most sustainable in the entire Olympic Park. The hyperbolic paraboloid form not only reflects the geometry of the cycling track beneath but also minimizes the building’s visual mass, allowing it to sit lightly within the surrounding landscape of the Olympic Park.
Furthermore, the design prioritized user experience and environmental conditions. The structure incorporates extensive timber cladding with carefully positioned apertures for natural ventilation, reducing reliance on mechanical systems. The use of natural daylight through rooflights and the surrounding glazed concourse ensured that the massive venue felt connected to the exterior. This combination of structural lightness, material honesty, and environmental sensitivity cemented the Velodrome’s reputation as a highly functional and aesthetically resolved piece of modern British architecture, earning it a place on the Stirling Prize shortlist.
The Acoustic Rebound: An Unintended Sound Effect
The Velodrome’s reputation for aerodynamic perfection and visual grace has now been complicated by its newfound celebrity as an acoustic oddity. The phenomenon gained traction on social media, particularly following Bonfire Night celebrations in East London, when the frequent, loud explosions of fireworks provided the precise external stimulus needed to generate the unusual sound.
Videos quickly went viral, capturing the deep, compressed, and distinctly flatulent noise that seemed to emanate directly from the structure. Observers likened the sound to everything from a “one-cheek squeak” to a “butt-tuba,” with the general consensus settling on a comic interpretation of the acoustic compression. This public reaction instantly transformed the building from a subject of architectural critique into an object of shared, international humour, adding an unexpected layer of pop culture notoriety to the post-Games legacy of the Olympic Park.
The humour lies in the sheer incongruity: a structure globally celebrated for its sleek, high-tech efficiency is suddenly revealed to possess a mischievous, low-brow sonic personality. This unexpected vulnerability in the building’s composure has humanized the monolithic structure in a way that years of architectural writing could not, cementing its place in the public imagination through a universal, deeply relatable joke.
Geometry and Resonance: The Science of the Curve
The root cause of the Velodrome’s bizarre vocalizations lies in the acoustic physics governed by its unique hyperbolic paraboloid shape. While flat surfaces simply reflect sound, and convex surfaces tend to spread it out, concave surfaces possess the distinct ability to focus sound waves. The double curvature of the Velodrome’s roof acts as a massive, inverted acoustic reflector.
When the loud, percussive sound waves generated by a firework detonation hit the concave interior of the roof and the hyperbolic exterior shell, they are not scattered; instead, they are gathered, compressed, and focused. This process creates a strong acoustic reflection, resulting in a phenomenon similar to what is heard in a whispering gallery, but on a vast, industrial scale and driven by a powerful external shockwave. The compression of the low-frequency sound of the explosion is intensified and elongated as it echoes through the structure, producing the deep, sustained rumbling noise that has been described as a “fart.”
Architects and acoustic engineers have long understood that large, curved surfaces present a complex challenge, often leading to unwanted echoes, flutter, and sound focusing. Famous examples, such as the Whispering Gallery in St. Paul’s Cathedral, rely on this principle for their magical effect. The Velodrome, however, shows this effect in reverse: an external, percussive event is focused by the architecture and spat back out as an unexpectedly amplified, low-frequency sound, proving that even in a controlled environment, complex geometry can yield acoustic surprises.
Legacy Beyond Sport: The Building as Pop Culture Subject
The Velodrome’s unexpected turn as a viral internet sensation has significant implications for its long-term cultural legacy. While its primary function remains a high-performance sports venue—fulfilling the vital legacy mandate of the 2012 Games—its architectural identity is now irreversibly linked to this playful phenomenon.
This incident aligns the Velodrome with a curious lineage of architectural objects that become famous not for their intended function, but for an accidental, humorous, or unexpected side effect. Such events ensure a building maintains a high level of public interest long after the ribbon cutting, transitioning it from a mere structure into an active subject of pop culture dialogue. It becomes an engaging landmark, one that people remember and discuss not just for its elegance, but for its amusing personality.
By offering a tangible, audible connection to the principles of physics and acoustic engineering in a memorable way, the “farting Velodrome” serves as a highly effective, albeit unintentional, piece of public science education. It is a testament to the fact that even in the most sterile, precise domains of contemporary architecture, the laws of nature—and human humour—can introduce an element of unpredictability. The Velodrome, the epitome of efficiency, has learned to make a joke at its own expense, endearing it to millions worldwide.
