Wednesday, November 07, 2007
The Olympic Stadium - Not an Armadillo
Nige and I are not exactly enthusiastic about the 2012 Olympics in London. Today, further fuel is added to our grumpy flames by the revelation of the design for the main stadium. The design is about as timid as it is possible to imagine - a circle made of steel frame and canvas basically - for, I have to admit, perfectly good reasons. It is, essentially, a temporary structure so architectural extravagance would have been, well, extravagant - though it is still going to cost £496 million (true figure, I forecast, £700 million). But what is striking about the design is that it is emphatically not the armadillo-like structure that was illustrated in the Olympic bid. This draws attention to the dishonesty of the whole enterprise. The whole bid, from cost to design, was something that could not possibly be achieved. This was what I believe is called a 'bait and switch' operation, a cheap con. But that's what governments do isn't?
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
It's a flipping doughnut isn't it? They could get Krispy Kreme to sponsor it. They probably already have. The Krispy Kreme Stadium - it has a certain, ah, ring....
ReplyDeleteThe design of the thing is relatively clean. Your basic Circus, with the modern canopy.
ReplyDeleteBut,how the heck are they going to lop the 55000 from the thing when the games are over, and why. It will leave the thing looking like crazy golf for the BFG.
I just wanted to thank all you Londoners for taking the Olympics away from NYC.
ReplyDeleteAs a general rule, yes, that is what governments do. Although "cheap" rarely figures into it (and I'll lay a fiver it goes higher than £800 million).
ReplyDeleteI like the Krispy Kreme Stadium idea, Nige. Too bad they are teetering on the edge of insolvency. Then again, that hasn't stopped others from sponsoring big-name sports venues, has it? If it happens, I can't wait for the blimp to fly over and apply the glazing while the spectators are in their seats.
ReplyDeleteLet's face it folks, the 800 million Millennium Dome is a terribly hard act to follow
ReplyDelete