JMarkSnow2012 Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 why cave in and have parking? That park has amazing transport links there is no need for car parks! Psychology, I think. Attending the Olympics was a big deal, like visiting a theme park. The individual venues will be used on a much more casual basis- pop over on a summer evening for an hour or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 And also, I'm sure there must've been parking spaces in the back-end of venues for deliveries etc during the Games. Since these areas on the edge of the park are now reserved for housing, the individual venues will need some parking spaces. It's too idealistic to believe everything can be acheived via public transport. Even Wembley has a few parking spaces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Tickle Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 You won't sway me. Billy wants to go and do some exercise so his mum is gonna drive him there. And they won't bring back hanging : ) I say if we build it they will swim, if we take up space that could mean more greenery with tarmac parking, they will drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony E Loves Architecture Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 I personally prefer traveling in a Family Member's Car rather than public transport. That's just my preference anyway. Of course if parking is unavailable, I have no choice but to use the tube to go to the Aquatics Centre, but seeing as though there is parking facilities, I will be going via a Family Member's Car. It would be even better if it was my own car, but I can't do driving lessons until 8th May, when I turn 17. Anyway, yes for Legacy Mode, it was a good idea to have Parking Facilities. Does anyone know if it is free parking or pay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 You won't sway me. Billy wants to go and do some exercise so his mum is gonna drive him there. And they won't bring back hanging : ) I say if we build it they will swim, if we take up space that could mean more greenery with tarmac parking, they will drive. Wasn't there a massive great ring-road around the Park during Games time, and all the parking for delivery vehicles must've been behind that loop-road out of sight (out of mind). The Games were mostly car free for spectators, but that doesn't mean they were vehicle-free in general. I'd imagine there still needs to be provision for this. And like it or not, even with a well designed system, some disabled people still find public transport hard. I've no problem with limited car parking at venues. You'll probably need coach-parks too if there's going to be events. Of course public transport should be encouraged for 99% of journeys to the park and its venues. But I do think there are exceptions. Tony, you live in Greenwich, that's 15 mins on the Tube from Stratford. Look at the news today about pollution levels in London, then get on a train to go for a swim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony E Loves Architecture Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 Wasn't there a massive great ring-road around the Park during Games time, and all the parking for delivery vehicles must've been behind that loop-road out of sight (out of mind). The Games were mostly car free for spectators, but that doesn't mean they were vehicle-free in general. I'd imagine there still needs to be provision for this. And like it or not, even with a well designed system, some disabled people still find public transport hard. I've no problem with limited car parking at venues. You'll probably need coach-parks too if there's going to be events. Of course public transport should be encouraged for 99% of journeys to the park and its venues. But I do think there are exceptions. Tony, you live in Greenwich, that's 15 mins on the Tube from Stratford. Look at the news today about pollution levels in London, then get on a train to go for a swim. Of course, I know that it's literally a few minutes away from me, as I live in Greenwich (I didn't know you knew I lived in Greenwich and how you found out, but it's not a problem), but sometimes, public transport is overcrowded, claustrophobic and stressful. In your own car, you go at your own pace, your own route and feel more free. We have improved public transport alot and pollution is a major issue in London like many other major cities, heck I have seen pollution in London all over the news today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony E Loves Architecture Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 I like it. ArcelorMittal Orbit set to become centrepiece of latest reopening of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Full story here - http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/summer-olympics/2012/1019234-arcelormittal-orbit-set-to-be-centrepiece-of-latest-reopening-of-queen-elizabeth-olympic-park - Source: Inside the Games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illustrado Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Tickle Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 Driving in London is far more stressful. I hope its pay for parking and I hope you have to re mortgage your house its so expensive to park there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony E Loves Architecture Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 Driving in London is far more stressful. I hope its pay for parking and I hope you have to re mortgage your house its so expensive to park there. Bit extreme. It's all down to preference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Tickle Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 Well peoples mindset needs to change, getting in the car for a short journey is crazy. Tony can I ask are you a driver or a passenger? As a driver I find driving in London stressful, I'd take a journey on the tube or a bus anyway over that experience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony E Loves Architecture Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 Well peoples mindset needs to change, getting in the car for a short journey is crazy. Tony can I ask are you a driver or a passenger? As a driver I find driving in London stressful, I'd take a journey on the tube or a bus anyway over that experience I'm a passenger as I can't drive until I'm 17. I'm still 16. Of course, I won't know yet what it's like to be a driver for another few months, but I prefer traveling via car than via tube. Like I said, I can see your side of the discussion. I'm not naive. I know the roads are gridlocked. I know there is pollution issues. It's just with public transport you have: - Delays. - Waiting around. - Can't find a seat. I could go on, but I won't. I actually have always wanted to be a driver in London. As a Londoner, I love all the madness on the roads. I'm born and bred in London, so I'm used to the madness of the roads. I've been on the tube many times in my life, it's not the worst experience, but I personally prefer being a passenger in a family members car, but like I said, it is all down to personal preference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Tickle Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 Well my preference would be to be chauffeured around London anyday : ), but as a driver Im gonna stick to public transport and leave my car at home or on the outskirts of London to arrive at meetings more or less on time, and stress free. I would be amazed if once you are in the driving seat, Londons crazy drivers don't suddenly feel a lot less fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ofan Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 I'm sure it's 10x more stressful having to drive on the wrong side of the road too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony E Loves Architecture Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 I'm sure it's 10x more stressful having to drive on the wrong side of the road too. The left side is the right side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 The left side is the right side. I'm writing to reach you...but. I might never reach you ♩ ♪ ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zekekelso Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 Looks like the games failed in inspire at least one member of a generation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted April 4, 2014 Report Share Posted April 4, 2014 Birdseye view of the park ahead of its fuill reopening tomorrow: https://www.facebook.com/queenelizabetholympicpark?fref=ts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve10086 Posted April 5, 2014 Report Share Posted April 5, 2014 Was at the park for the opening this morning. I think the place is fabulous. Loads for kids to do, and amazing world class sporting venues available for public use. I have swimming lessons at the Aquatics Centre and it's very inspiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illustrado Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 http://youtu.be/Mu6GnEXK9q0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martijn Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park review – no medals for visual flair A collision of competing garish styles mars the southern half of the remodelled Olympic Park in east London, says critic of the year Rowan Moore Let's start with the good news. We have a park, as promised, which as the boosters say is the size of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens combined. The early signs are that it will be a place people actually use and not, as it might have been, a zone for shopping trolley safaris. There seem to be sane plans for its continued upkeep. Its edges are marked by buildings of various degrees of impressiveness. The Aquatics Centre is now a magnificent place for swimming, for which it might be forgiven its cost in gold and steel, and the fact that, when you try to enter what you think is its grand entrance under a large cantilevered portico, it turns out it's not. You have to find your way in round the side. There's the unimpeachable Velodrome, the perfectly OK Copper Box, and the unfussy stadium, all of which now seem to have viable futures. It remains a scandal that the stadium deal involved, in effect, a vast public gift, plus a loan from one of the poorest boroughs in the country, to a Premier League football team, West Ham, owned by two former porn barons. Even so, the current state of Olympic legacy is way ahead of Beijing or Athens or any Olympic city in recent times. The answer to the question "What did the Olympics do for us?", apart from the remembered glow of national sporting achievement, is this. More is promised – branches of the Victoria and Albert Museum and University College London, and housing. At the fringes, in Hackney Wick, there is the prospect of enhancing the area without obliterating its existing qualities, which is a trick rarely pulled off. Now the southern part of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, as the place is now called, has been completed, the northern part having opened last summer. Where the north was conceived as a dog-walking, strolling sort of place, the south is to be more intensively used, with a children's playground and spaces for events both paid-for and free. It also contains the ArcelorMittal Orbit, the 114.5m high red steel sculpture by artist Anish Kapoor, engineer Cecil Balmond and architect the late Kathryn Findlay. The park is designed by the American-based, British-born James Corner and his practice, Field Operations, which, as the boosters also love to point out, designed the High Line in New York, the name of which has become a shorthand for everything marvellous in park design of this millennium. (To be more precise, he co-designed the High Line with architects Diller, Scofidio + Renfro and plantsman and garden designer Piet Oudolf, but as Corner's role has sometimes been understated, it's fair if it's exaggerated now.) But – and you will have spotted that this article has been telegraphing a "but" from the start – this is no High Line. Of course it's not, given that the latter is made out of an elevated ex-railway in Manhattan, but the south park also lacks some of the other's intelligence. Part of the genius of the High Line is its simplicity – a very small range of elements is used to make the paving and seats, the better to bring out the latent wonders of the place. In the Queen Elizabeth Park we get a Disneyfied version. There is a frenzy of wacky light fittings, of playground installations, of seats, tree species, sculptural lumps of granite, kiosks, railings and coloured surfaces. It's not helped by the fact that Corner's area of influence is quite small, and fringed by the work of others. To one side is some (very nice) planting by the same Piet Oudolf who collaborated on the High Line, and a bridge by Heneghan Peng, which adds mirrored steel panels and gabion embankments to the over-loaded palette. The park's suppliers of electricity have added their own contribution, with some prominent distribution equipment. As with the High Line, the park has latent wonders – its changes of level and waterways, which have been cleaned up and restored, and rather prominent sports buildings – which are in danger of being drowned out by the jangling of multiple motifs. At times it feels like an exhibition of hard standing and balustrades, with a park struggling to get out. It suffers from an Olympic syndrome, where everyone wants to be a Mo or a Jessica and make their mark. No one, except perhaps the admirable Oudolf, wants to do the quiet stuff. Certainly not the student housing developers Unite, who have built an astoundingly ugly block of 1,001 units between the Athletes' Village and Westfield shopping centre that looms aggressively in almost every vista. Great care was taken to make the Athletes' Village aesthetically orderly, to the point where it began to resemble Ceausescu's Bucharest: this eruption makes such efforts futile. Certainly not the Orbit, either, which as legend has it was conceived in a conversation between Boris Johnson and Laksmi Mittal in the gents at Davos. It continues to look like the result of a competition to see who could piss the most steel into the air. It occasionally offers glimpses of the effects that made Kapoor's 2009 Royal Academy show vastly popular, but these are obscured by the clunkiness of the structure. At ground level it offers a harsh fence and lumpy support buildings which do nothing to help the park feel like a park. All of which means that the best places are in the more serene north park. There is something noble about this big space, with the sporting monuments around it. It is crossed with roads and railways as well as canals, but these somehow add to the experience. All the better if, when approaching it from Stratford on the eastern side, you don't have to pass through the visual equivalent of several mobile ringtones going off at once. http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/06/queen-elizabeth-olympic-park-review-disneyfied-new-york-high-line Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMarkSnow2012 Posted April 6, 2014 Report Share Posted April 6, 2014 Aesthetics aside, it looks as if there's considerable fun to be had in the Park: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martijn Posted April 7, 2014 Report Share Posted April 7, 2014 Source: http://queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMarkSnow2012 Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Source: http://queenelizabetholympicpark.co.uk/ Slightly ambiguous, but I presume this means the Park can be accessed from Pudding Mill Lane station, which would be handy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martijn Posted April 8, 2014 Report Share Posted April 8, 2014 Slightly ambiguous, but I presume this means the Park can be accessed from Pudding Mill Lane station, which would be handy. Yes that's possible. (I walked that route last December) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.