WGRZ.COM   2 on your side

January 19, 2010

GRAND ISLAND, NY - When the Winter Olympics come to NBC and WGRZ next month the pride of Western New York workers will be evident, after a local firm played a major role in the design of one of the primary venues for the games.

From humble beginnings in Buffalo after World War II, Cannon Design --which is still based on Grand Island--does work all over the world.

This includes having been the lead architectural firm for the Richmond Oval, the long track speed skating venue at the Vancouver Games

To call the Richmond Oval massive would be an understatement. It contains more than a half-million square feet of space, and was built at a cost of $200-million.

Harry Warren and Peter McCarthy were just two of the was dozens of Western New Yorkers involved in the design and spoke with 2 On Your Side's Dave McKinley about their favorite features.

"The structure of the building being like a latticed wood structure, is built out of wood that was destroyed by beetles. It was going to be disposed of and we actually recycled and re-used it and created very unique trusses and structural systems for the building. It's the first thing you notice because they're so beautiful and elegant, said Warren.

"Some of the initial concepts that we had in developing the overall form of the roof had to do with bringing a lot of elements of fluid motion, reaching back to cores like the heron, which is an indigenous and common species in the Vancouver area. It's sort of graceful and fluid motion in flight and to walk in and see it constructed in this immense scale was pretty fantastic I think, McCarthy said.

Warren says the folks at Cannon Design are pretty excited about this because it's a source of pride for them that their building will appear before millions of television viewers on a world stage.

The University at Buffalo's School Of Architecture and Planning was impressed enough to host an exhibit on the Richmond Oval which will open Wednesday at Hayes Hall on the UB South Campus.