Cecil Balmond's Orbit officially unveiled
Launch ceremony held for Olympic sculpture
The ArcelorMittal Orbit was officially launched today in a ceremony attended by the design team and London mayor Boris Johnson.
Structural work is now complete and fit-out work will start later this month to prepare the 114.5m-tall sculpture for use as a tourist attraction.
Engineer Cecil Balmond, who designed the Orbit with artist Anish Kapoor, said: “Anish and I were conscious from the beginning that the Orbit would be a lasting legacy to the city and so we wanted to stretch the language of the icon as far as we could go.
“The Orbit is a hybrid, a network of art and structure, and its dynamic is the non-linear. You read into it multiple narratives in space.”
Construction of the sculpture took 18 months and used 560m of tubular red steel to form the main structure.
Visitors will be able to take a lift to a viewing platform and descend via a spiral staircase with 455 steps.
Postscript:
Listen to BD features editor Oliver Wainwright talk about the Orbit on Radio 4’s Today programme (around 00:02:35 - programme on 11 May, 2012).
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Readers' comments (20)
What have Kapoor, Balmond and Mittal all got in common?
Design has certainly been an afterthought when it comes to these Olympics. From the design of the logo to the stadium and now this Orbit thing, it's all pretty underwhelming.
EGO
I can't believe you have to pay £15 to go up this!
It's realy amazing, Cecil. it almsot looks if it would stand up if you removed all that red tat.
Actually it would stand up.
"You read into it multiple narratives in space."
Mmm, lack of ideas? scrap? (think I spelt the last one right).
irrelevant.
1. Boris meets steel magnate in toilet.
2. They hatch plan to build vainglorious project in the centre of the biggest spectacle in Britain for at least half a century.
3. They rope in Britain's most popular sculptor, and a world famous engineer for good measure.
4. Steel magnate uses pocket money to buy his own steel, in return for naming rights on the biggest sculpture in the UK - not to mention a few thousand Games tickets - completely undermining the stringent Olympic branding policy.
5. Sir Robert McAlpine is chosen as main contractor for the sculpture, for their speed in delivering the most efficient main stadium ever, a key element in the 'Sustainable Games'.
6. Steel saved in building main stadium used to build Orbit.
7. Design gets value engineered.
8. Functional and health and safety requirements are thrown in.
9. Result is contrived and compromised.
10. Steel magnate gets knighted and becomes household name.
I am a fan of the Games and the venues but the Orbit is a bit of a bush pig..!
many were so excited when the CGIs been published... and now we can see the reality is different!
Who is this architect in your headline?