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  #1  
Old Posted Mar 31, 2010, 8:05 PM
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LONDON | Olympic Hubble Bubble | 115m / 377ft

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle7083022.ece

The sculptor Anish Kapoor is to erect the largest and most ambitious public artwork in the country in east London: a startling red tower that looks rather like a mangled roller coaster.

It is too early to tell what the world will call this £19.1 million, 115m tall feat of technological and industrial wizadry but if Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, has anything to do with it it will be the “Hubble-Bubble” after the tobacco smoking contraptions popular in the Middle East and North Africa.

Kapoor beat off competition from the artist Antony Gormley and the architects Caruso St John to win a contest run by the Mayor to find yet another “iconic symol” for the city and the 2012 Olympic park.

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Old Posted Mar 31, 2010, 8:26 PM
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mehh... its whatever. maybe it'll grow on me, london has a history of wacky architecture which overtime looks good.

i wouldnt have chosen this personally, but whatev.
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Old Posted Mar 31, 2010, 10:04 PM
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Interesting, I would assume they will need to get going on this pretty soon to have it ready in time for the games?
     
     
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Old Posted Mar 31, 2010, 10:24 PM
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Originally Posted by Bigtime View Post
Interesting, I would assume they will need to get going on this pretty soon to have it ready in time for the games?
Mostly steel latice as opposed to poured concrete floors and office space so it should be easy to assemble once the steel is made to spec... but yeah you would think as much.
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Old Posted Apr 1, 2010, 5:22 AM
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Eeeesh. It's art so have at it. But, I'm not terribly fond of it.
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  #6  
Old Posted Apr 1, 2010, 6:16 AM
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It's a 450-ft. hookah.
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Old Posted Apr 1, 2010, 10:54 AM
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i just, dont get it. what is the artist trying to say? unity? peace? the 2012 games are going to be a mangled wreck?
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Old Posted Apr 1, 2010, 1:11 PM
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Not as cool as the bean:


wikipedia

Its strange that this contraption doesn't seem to reflect (no pun intended) the simplicity of any of his previous artwork. Most of his art explores the reflection of light and this seems to explore how many weird ways we can weld steel together in.
     
     
  #9  
Old Posted Apr 1, 2010, 3:07 PM
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eww.. fugly......
     
     
  #10  
Old Posted Apr 1, 2010, 3:37 PM
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Never realized how much the Bean reminds me of the spaceship from Flight of Navigator until now.


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Old Posted Apr 1, 2010, 3:39 PM
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My first reaction was that it looks like something out of War of the Worlds.

Very menacing, without having any real drama. I can hardly believe it was done by the same person that did the Bean. It would be interesting to see the other designs. I can't believe that none of them was better.

It reminds me of the old joke, "What's big, red and eats rocks? A big red rock eater". Only in this case, it's "What's big, red, and acts as an observation tower? A big, red observation tower".
     
     
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Old Posted Apr 1, 2010, 3:55 PM
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Saw it in the news. I think it has the potential to be a lasting icon. I think it's supposed to be 377 ft.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti....html?ITO=1490







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  #13  
Old Posted Apr 4, 2010, 6:22 AM
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look at that smug motherf*cker. he actually thinks this looks good.
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  #14  
Old Posted Apr 4, 2010, 1:25 PM
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Well, I'm in the minority on this one, I kind of like it. They should build something like this at Coney Island...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...ondon-olympics
Is the Orbit anything more than a folly on an Olympic scale?
It's the most extravagant example of the idea that a huge, strange object can affect tens of thousands.
This could be the point at which the idea stops working


Rowan Moore
The Observer, Sunday 4 April 2010

Quote:
It's dangerous to compare it with the Statue of Liberty. The boosters of ArcelorMittal Orbit, the £19m, 115-metre tower to be built on the London Olympic site, announce it will be taller than New York's great green lady, but it's unlikely to be as eloquent.

Is the ArcelorMittal steel company, one wonders, as great a cause to be celebrated as liberty? Well, no, but the aim is that this big red sculpture, by the artist Anish Kapoor and the engineer Cecil Balmond, will do more than glorify its generous sponsor. It is the most extravagant example yet of the idea that a big, strange object can lift tens of thousands of people out of deprivation. This idea has had some successes, but the Orbit could mark the point at which it overreaches itself and we decide to try something different in the future.

According to the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, the Olympic site "needed something extra, something to distinguish the east London skyline, something to arouse the curiosity and wonder of Londoners and visitors. With £9.3bn going into the Games, we need to do everything we can to regenerate the area and ensure that crowds are still coming here in 2013 and beyond".

The Orbit is therefore to join the ranks of the Angel of the North, the Millennium Dome and the London Eye. Also of the Eiffel Tower, the Seattle Space Needle, the Rotterdam Euromast, the Portsmouth Spinnaker Tower, the Oriental Pearl TV tower in Shanghai and the Unisphere of the 1964 New York World's Fair. Also of the Tower of Juche Idea, Pyongyang, a celebration of the late Kim Il Sung's unique fusion of Korean identity and Marxist-Leninism. The latter, at 170m, is taller than the Orbit and for some reason this is a comparison Johnson chooses not to make.

The Orbit is a landmark, an icon, a thing, a doo-dad, a wotsit. Its aim is to imprint an image on the consciousness of the world, which will also make people want to come to Stratford, east London, even after the Games have gone. It means that, as well as the new Olympic Park, the gigantic new Westfield shopping centre, and whatever might be happening in the ex-Olympic stadium, a great day out in these parts can include a ride to the top of the Orbit. By some associative magic, businesses, investors and housebuyers will want to be there more. This district, whose statistics of deprivation are often repeated, will begin to go up in the world. You might have thought that the Olympic billions were already enough to draw attention to this site, but the Orbit will be the icing on the cake...
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Old Posted Apr 4, 2010, 2:40 PM
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The difference is, it would fit in at Coney Island... it looks like a roller coaster and it at Coney Island it wouldn't have to take on such a serious purpose.

The fact they compare it to the Eiffel Tower and Lady Liberty really just shows you what state the UK is in right now.
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Old Posted Apr 6, 2010, 2:45 PM
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Originally Posted by FerrariEnzo View Post
The difference is, it would fit in at Coney Island...
Give it a few decades, and you'd be saying the same thing about London.

Folks, these things aren't always well received in their early stages. But this is something that could be a defining landmark for London in the future. It may not be the most "beautiful" of icons by some standards, but it is what it is.
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  #17  
Old Posted Apr 4, 2010, 3:21 PM
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Please don't take this personally, Londoners, but everything about the 2012 games looks like its going to turn out a bit odd.

The logo is horrible, the venues designs are off-putting, and now this? I always look forward to the Olympics and seeing how the city presents itself and looks during the games, from the people to the buildings, venues, signs, wraps, etc.

Personally, from what I've seem so far, London is going to be remembered as the city that tried too hard to be different, without a budget to do so properly (Beijing) and failed.

When I saw the bizarre the London portion of the closing ceremonies was in 2008, I figured it was just because I still had the spectacle of the Beijing ceremonies on my mind. 2 years later, it looks like the whole of London 2012 is going to turn out the same way.
     
     
  #18  
Old Posted Apr 4, 2010, 9:46 PM
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Originally Posted by arkhitektor View Post
Please don't take this personally, Londoners, but everything about the 2012 games looks like its going to turn out a bit odd.

The logo is horrible, the venues designs are off-putting, and now this? I always look forward to the Olympics and seeing how the city presents itself and looks during the games, from the people to the buildings, venues, signs, wraps, etc.

Personally, from what I've seem so far, London is going to be remembered as the city that tried too hard to be different, without a budget to do so properly (Beijing) and failed.

When I saw the bizarre the London portion of the closing ceremonies was in 2008, I figured it was just because I still had the spectacle of the Beijing ceremonies on my mind. 2 years later, it looks like the whole of London 2012 is going to turn out the same way.
Public art/tower aside the London 2012 Olympics will indeed be odd; to be odd is to be British and the reason why we have a knack for being one of the most culturally inventive societies about ranging from sports, art, music, film and architecture.

As such, the Olympics is an event requiring a much needed makeover; out goes the corporatised image of the logo, mascots and white elephant stadiums, and in comes a model for a sustainable legacy that the city will actually benefit from. Most importantly it will be one giant party - a complete contrast to Beijing

If there is one thing I can be certain of it is that the venues will be far more impressive in London than they were in Beijing;
- Wimbledon for tennis
- Wembley for football
- the Dome for gymnastics
- The Royal Artillery Barracks for shooting
- Lords for archery
- Horseguards Parade for Volleyball
- Greenwich Park for the Equestrian events
- Hyde Park for the Triathalon

The most interesting development could be that of the proposed 1,000m x 30m recycled polymer screen, that would wrap-round the Olympic Stadium - essentially turning the stadium into one giant 360 degree screen broadcasting events inside and elsewhere.

We also have to remember that London doesn't want a repeat of Beijing where the city is left with a stadium that sees little use in legacy mode. The London stadium has been designed to see a capacity reduction to 25,000 after the games; this will ensure that the stadium is a viable athletics-centered venue.

Of course come the closing ceremony the whole thing could end up a complete mess, but you don't judge a book by its cover. To prove the point, compare the Athens-Beijing handover ceremony to the Beijing opening ceremony.
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  #19  
Old Posted Apr 21, 2010, 3:18 AM
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Actually , if he put some sort of cladding on it I'd say it was both art and appealing. The current incarnation , well , it'll never be beautiful but it would at least look interesting. I guess if that's what people want then this will deliver (ugly or not)
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Old Posted Apr 1, 2010, 4:14 PM
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Barf!
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