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Boris's Tower On The Olympic Park


Mr Tickle

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Can't wait to see what may be proposed by Anish Kapoor. Cloud Gate in Chicago is unbelievable...genius. Cloudgate is an example that height is not the only characteristic that demonstrates power. In a city like Chicago with so much "height" the Cloud Gate is a sublime counterpoint.

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This sounds promising, that pylon thing is dead and we are getting an Anish Kapoor tower, cool!

Kapoor set to build Olympic tower as mega-mosque flounders

AJ

21 January, 2010

Anish Kapoor is understood to have landed a project to build a huge tower in the Olympic Park just days after another proposed East London landmark – the £300 million mega-mosque – hit the buffers

According to AJ sources, the Turner Prize-winning artist has scooped the Boris Johnson-backed contest to build a massive sculpture on the 2012 site. Kapoor’s scheme, which would tower above the Olympic stadium and has the support of steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, saw off competition from Antony Gormley (see AJ 26.10.10).

Although neither the Greater London Authority nor the artist was willing to confirm the news, it is believed the ‘dramatic’ winning structure will incorporate lifts for visitors and offer ‘unrivalled’ views over London.

Meanwhile, Allies and Morrison’s plan for a ‘mega-mosque’ close to the Olympic site is in disarray after the project backer failed to submit a masterplan for the development.

Newham Council confirmed that Tablighi Jamaat, the controversial Islamic group behind the proposal, had been asked to provide a strategy for the Abbey Mills site in West Ham by early January, but had failed to do so.

Temporary planning permission expired in late 2006 and an illegal temporary mosque has allegedly been operating on the plot since then.

A spokesperson said that Tablighi Jamaat had been given until today (21 January) to leave the site or the council would take formal enforcement action.

Other options include compulsory purchase, although the spokesperson said taking ownership of the land is ‘not currently a consideration’.

Up-and-coming practice Mangera Yvars Architects originally drew up plans for the mosque in 2005 (pictured above), but was replaced by Allies and Morrison in 2007. Zaha Hadid was approached to take over the job, but refused.

Ali Mangera, director at Mangera Yvars Architects, said he was not surprised the project had been abandoned: ‘The scheme required a well-organised client team capable of understanding the design process.’

The Tablighi Jamaat Trust was unavailable for comment and Allies and Morrison declined to comment due to a confidentiality agreement.

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rob - i would imagine it will be built before the games lol - i also suspect that it will designed to hold the cauldron - all pure speculation but there you go!!!

If it's anything even close to the size of the Cloud proposal it'll be way too big for a cauldron tower.

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I think the sculpture or whatever it is will be fairly sizeable. If it is planned to be the cauldron I assume it will need to rise above the stadium so that spectators can see it.

However, I think it might just be a commissioned piece of art to add flare to the Olympic park and not necessarily the cauldron.

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I think the sculpture or whatever it is will be fairly sizeable. If it is planned to be the cauldron I assume it will need to rise above the stadium so that spectators can see it.

However, I think it might just be a commissioned piece of art to add flare to the Olympic park and not necessarily the cauldron.

i think you are probably right - have looked at kapoor's website and there are some remarkable pieces on there! i would really like to see this separate to the main cauldron - maybe something like his cloud gate in chicago which is cool!

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Anish Kapoor plans 400ft Olympic Games sculpture

A SPIRALLING 400ft sculpture designed by the Turner prize-winning artist Anish Kapoor is set to win the competition for a monument to mark the 2012 Olympic Games.

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, is planning the £15m artwork, which he hopes could become a popular tourist attraction.

The sculpture, to be built in the Olympic park, is to be funded by Lakshmi Mittal, the steel magnate and Britain’s richest man.

Although the exact design is being kept secret, the asymmetric steel structure is understood to resemble a cluster of interlocking fractured rings.

The form is intended to complement the sweeping curves of the nearby Aquatics centre, by Zaha Hadid, and its form nods to the five rings of the Olympic logo.

The sculpture will incorporate lifts for visitors and offer sweeping views over London. A restaurant is also planned, though its inclusion will depend on the ability of Cecil Balmond, the project’s engineer, to overcome significant structural challenges.

Like the Skylon, the futuristic sculpture built for the 1951 Festival of Britain to wow a war-weary nation, it is hoped the artwork will become a symbol of optimism as Britain emerges from recession.

Securing funding for the project is a coup for Johnson, who has been urging London’s super-rich to give something back to society. A source close to Mittal said he decided to fund the project as a “gift to the city he loves”, after Johnson suggested the idea last year.

Although a winner has yet to be announced, it is understood Kapoor’s design has pipped a rival entry by Antony Gormley, famous for his iron figures.

“It’s an extremely exuberant design,” said Barbara Gladstone, Kapoor’s art dealer in New York. “I think it’s an incredibly appropriate work for this period because it uses all the latest technology.

“If you think of the Eiffel Tower in 1889, that was something that could never have been built before. Look at what it meant in the end — that kind of symbolism is what’s here, in this work. It’s a statement of optimism and all that’s good about being alive today.”

Kapoor has earned a reputation as the “Mr Big” of modern art, producing sculptures that dwarf the viewer. One new work being assembled in Teesside, called Temenos, resembles a huge pair of tights stretched between two rings, hovering eerily over the postindustrial landscape.

His Olympic artwork will be the tallest in Europe, beating a 315ft statue of Peter the Great in Moscow, built to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Russian navy in 1998.

It is two-thirds the height of the Gherkin skyscraper in London; six times taller than the Angel of the North; and twice as high as Mark Wallinger’s £2m white horse planned for north Kent.

The Olympic sculpture would be lit at night and is expected to draw tourists to East London after 2012. Its steel frame reflects Mittal’s business, which has earned his family a £10.8 billion fortune.

Spokesmen for Johnson and Mittal refused to comment on the scheme. A winning design is expected to be revealed in six weeks’ time.

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This sounds great. I'm still concerned that if it's going to be right next to the stadium, built before Games time, and is not to be the cauldron tower, that it'll severely dwarf the Olympic flame, but I'm cautiously optimistic about this now we know who's designing it and now that god awful pylon idea has been done away with.

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This sounds great. I'm still concerned that if it's going to be right next to the stadium, built before Games time, and is not to be the cauldron tower, that it'll severely dwarf the Olympic flame, but I'm cautiously optimistic about this now we know who's designing it and now that god awful pylon idea has been done away with.

i agree - i think kapoor rocks - but it does sound enormous !! Blimey!

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I still don't like the idea of such a tall structure being built in the Olympic Park. The Olympic Park won't need such overblown stuff to look great. And especially since the construction of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, I'm totally against that phallic obsession with tall landmarks or buildings. What the **** is wrong with people who have to build towers just to impress others or (most importantly) themselves?

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I still don't like the idea of such a tall structure being built in the Olympic Park. The Olympic Park won't need such overblown stuff to look great. And especially since the construction of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, I'm totally against that phallic obsession with tall landmarks or buildings. What the **** is wrong with people who have to build towers just to impress others or (most importantly) themselves?

I don't think, from reading the description and looking at his past works, that there'll be anything overly macho or phallic about this structure. It sounds actually, from the description of the spirals etc., to be rather feminine and light.

Some of his other works:

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Many, many more here

This will be built using private donations and if it helps make the Olympic Park more of an attraction post-2012 then I'm all for it. My only worry, as I said above, is that if it's built before the Olympics it could dwarf the flame.

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I am very excited at this news. I cannot believe the height of it. It's not far off half the height of the Eiffel Tower. :o I have stood next to the "Angel of the North" and it seems incredible that this sculpture is 6 times taller. I am a little worried about the description of broken rings. Hardly fitting for a post games monument - the fact that they are broken up. More positivity needed guys. :D

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I like the idea - a tower, a sculpture or another structure could become the landmark of a Park (esp. an Olympic Park)...

I would like to see something, which combines Olympic Games with something, that represents the history of that area, where the Olympic Park is built.

On the other hand I understand Robs' concern - this tower, sculture resp. structure shouldn't "dwarf" the Olympic Cauldron (what is when this structure is the cauldron?)

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I am very excited at this news. ...... More positivity needed guys. biggrin.gif

Exactly!smile.gif

I'm sure he'll come up with something amazing - his recent RA exhibition was the most successful ever by a living artist - he's proven himself to be a very popular artist among the British public.

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when I remember right are there several canals through the Park - I would like to see when the tower/structure/sculpture is integrated in the landscape/waterscape of the Park - maybe on a kind of terrass, which extends into a canal...

am not sure they could do this now - the topography of the park has already been planned and it would need possible major tweaks to do this. that said they must have originally planned in a structure in order for this to get out of the starting blocks in the 1st place.

does anyone know where this will be in the park? it could be sited away from the stadium and closer to the OV? also for those (inc me) who worry about it over-shadowing the cauldron - remember the ling long pagoda in beijing was tall but didn't overwhelm the cauldron.

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