How the architect who made modern Brisbane shaped the city’s 2032 Olympics stadium plans

The entrance to Victoria Park, where a new 60,000-seat stadium will be built for the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane. Photograph: John Pye/AP

As plans for the 2032 Olympic Games were thrown into limbo last year, architect Michael Rayner began to bend the ear of local politicians and Olympics officials about his idea for Victoria Park.

Rayner – a prolific designer who has been described as one of the makers of modern Brisbane – proposed Victoria Park as an Olympics precinct in a 2019 lecture, years before the city’s bid for the 2032 games was even viewed as a frontrunner.