Seats in Olympic stadium may convert to wheelchairs
Chicago's plans for the Olympic Stadium -- should the city be named the host of the 2016 Summer Games next week -- could make it one of the more "handicapped-friendly'' venues ever built.
Of course, the stadium will be fully accessible to the disabled. But beyond that, the city is working on design plans to convert up to 50,000 of the planned 80,000 seats at the temporary stadium into wheelchairs. The chairs could be donated to disabled people in developing countries.
"It addresses a social issue where we can make wheelchairs -- privately funded -- available to people around the world with disabilities,'' said Chicago 2016 bid CEO Patrick Ryan. "There are still people around the world who still have to drag themselves because they don't have wheelchairs."
The conversion of the seats is possible because the plan is to collapse the stadium after the Games into a much smaller amphitheater in Washington Park on the South Side, leaving potentially tens of thousands of seats that could be put to other uses.
The idea is the brainchild of Darren Brehm, a California native now living in Chicago and working for a firm consulting the Chicago 2016 bid team. Brehm has used a wheelchair since a 1990 car wreck left him paralyzed from the chest down.
Brehm said many disabled people in developing countries are either bedridden or left begging on the streets because they can't afford or don't have access to wheelchairs.
"It could change a lot of people's lives,'' said Brehm, who, as a sixth-grader, won a contest and got to carry the Olympic torch for a kilometer during the lead-up to the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Brehm's idea was turned over to Chicago-based design consulting firm IDEO, which came up with a prototype.
Chicago 2016 officials say the plan is to design and construct wheelchairs for long-term use -- and then install a removable seat portion in the stadium for the Games. While designs have not been finalized, the back and seat portions might be made of canvas or a plasticized material.
The convertible seats could cost an estimated $100 to $200 each -- which is more expensive than a standard stadium seat. Organizers could look for private sponsors to help cover the costs of the seats in a stadium expected to cost nearly $400 million.
"We've approached this project the way we've tried to approach all of our projects, and that is, 'Can we do something that has a positive effect on the environment and have a positive economic benefit?'" Bob Accarino, director of environment for the Chicago 2016 bid team, told the Chicago Sun-Times recently. "And in this particular case ... it has a tremendous social benefit so it's a great example of a program that affects all aspects of sustainability -- economic, social and environmental."