{"id":4706,"date":"2026-05-11T10:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T14:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/?post_type=csat-story-chapter&p=4706"},"modified":"2026-06-19T11:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T15:38:19","slug":"the-olympic-park","status":"publish","type":"csat-story-chapter","link":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/en\/story\/the-olympic-park\/","title":{"rendered":"The Olympic Park"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On a visit to Paris, France, Mayor Drapeau fell in love with the Parc des Princes Stadium designed by French architect Roger Taillibert. He contacted Taillibert directly and asked him to design the Olympic Stadium and Velodrome. The Quebec Order of Architects was not happy about this, because it did not give the province’s architects a chance to show off their talents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t

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Jean Drapeau presenting the model of the Olympic Stadium and Velodrome, January 21, 1975<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t
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The Olympic Village<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Good news: two Quebec\u202farchitects, Roger d\u2019Astous and Luc Durand, were hired to design the Olympic Village. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

D\u2019Astous had built projects like the Beaubien metro station and the Ch\u00e2teau Champlain hotel, while Durand had designed Place Dupuis and the Quebec Pavilion at Expo 67. Today, the Quebec Pavilion and the former French Pavilion make up the Casino de Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\t

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The Olympic Village construction site, November 12, 1975<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\t
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The Olympic Stadium<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Taillibert was known for his extensive and expert usage of concrete. He liked to work with precast components, which meant some elements could be made in advance to save time at the construction site. However, the curved shapes he designed required the use of new building techniques that local construction companies found very challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, the Stadium is composed of 12,000\u202fprefabricated pieces. These elements contain 71,500\u202fcubic metres of poured concrete, embedded with approximately 1,000\u202fkilometres of high-tensile steel cables! Work on the Stadium began on April 28, 1973.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t

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The Olympic Stadium construction site, April 5, 1976<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\t
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The Olympic Stadium construction site, April 5, 1976<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\t
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The Velodrome<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, track cycling events took place on an indoor track. The Velodrome has a very unusual shell-like structure, and the roof features a number of long curved skylights. Even the way it was built was surprising: the pieces were assembled from the top, downwards, which is quite unusual!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he did for the stadium, Taillibert used prefab concrete segments, arches, panels and supports, which were then assembled on site. Each piece is designed to support another, a little like a giant jigsaw puzzle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction began on August 27, 1973, and wrapped up in May 1976, just in time for the Games.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t

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The Velodrome construction site, June 6, 1975<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\t
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The Velodrome construction site, April 5, 1976<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t
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The Olympic Stadium Tower \u2013 A Guinness World Record<\/strong><\/h2>\n \n

The stadium tower is 165 metres tall with a 45-degree angle. It holds the Guinness record for the tallest inclined structure in the world<\/strong>. In comparison, the Tower of Pisa, in Italy, built between 1173 and 1373, is only 54 metres high and leans at an angle of 4\u202fdegrees. Keep in mind, though, the architect did not design the Tower of Pisa to lean; the soft, unstable soil beneath the foundation caused it to tilt!<\/p>\n \n

Montreal’s stadium tower was finally completed in 1987.\u00a0That’s\u00a0right: during the 1976 Games, it was not yet finished! The tower was designed to hold cables attached to a retractable canvas roof. That way, the stadium roof could be opened or closed, depending on the weather.\u00a0Montrealers\u00a0would be able to attend Expos baseball games under the stars. However, after being opened and closed only 75 times, the roof developed\u00a0a number of\u00a0issues. It has\u00a0already been replaced\u00a0twice\u00a0and, in 2028, the stadium will have a brand-new fixed roof.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":4707,"template":"","class_list":["post-4706","csat-story-chapter","type-csat-story-chapter","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":4706,"fr":3898},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-story-chapter\/4706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-story-chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/csat-story-chapter"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-story-chapter\/4706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6393,"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/csat-story-chapter\/4706\/revisions\/6393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.histoiresdecheznous.ca\/v3\/olympiques-montreal-1976-olympics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}