| Architect |
Designed by
Anish Kapoor with Cecil Balmond of Arup also Ushida Findlay Architects |
| Date
Built |
2012 for the
London Olympics Re-opeing after Olympics in 2014 |
| Location |
Queen
Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford |
| Description |
|
|
Anish Kapoor's Orbit tower is the tallest
piece of public art in the UK.
Featuring a looping lattice of tubular
steel, it rises to 115m making it 22m taller
than the Statue of Liberty. The
structure received a number of
uncomplimentary reviews before and after its
construction but it proved to be one of the
most popular attractions in the Olympic Park
in London with many visitors unable to get
tickets to go up to its viewing platforms.
London Mayor, Boris Johnson said of the
tower that, "
The Olympic Park is going to have lots
of fantastic buildings in it already.
You’ve got the sports venues and an
incredible shopping centre in Westfield,
but we felt that it really needed
something extra – it needed a landmark
for the east London skyline. I wanted
something that would serve as a visitor
attraction both in Olympic Games time
and in legacy and after 2013, so that
Londoners, their families, visitors and
tourists – everybody from around the
world – will come to this site for
generations to come." Kapoor's design, created in collaboration with structural engineer Cecil Balmond, was selected from a number of submissions by a 9 person panel and in large part paid for by Laksmi Mittal. Kapoor says of the Orbit that, “I wanted the sensation of instability, something that was continually in movement. Traditionally a tower is pyramidal in structure, but we have done quite the opposite, we have a flowing, coiling form that changes as you walk around it. … It is an object that cannot be perceived as having a singular image, from any one perspective. You need to journey round the object, and through it. Like a Tower of Babel, it requires real participation from the public. ... There is a kind of medieval sense to it of reaching up to the sky, building the impossible. A procession, if you like. It's a long winding spiral: a folly that aspires to go even above the clouds and has something mythic about it.” Following the Closing Ceremony for the Paralympic Games in 2012 the Olympic Park closed and an extensive reconstruction program began. Several temporary structures were dismantled and the park was redesigned in preparation for its reopening in 2014 as a public park known as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The ArcelorMittal Orbit will be a prominent feature of that park. |
|
|
ArcelorMittal Orbit, Stratford,
London
 |
