LONDON — Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, has said that the ArcelorMittal Orbit, a spiraling goliath of red tangled steel that stands 35 stories above the city’s Olympic Park, would have “dwarfed” the aspirations of Gustave Eiffel and “boggled the minds” of the ancient Romans.
Many Londoners don’t see it quite that way.
They’ve called the Orbit, designed by the Indian-born sculptor Anish Kapoor and the Sri Lankan architect Cecil Balmond, the “Eye-full Tower” and “Helter-Skelter,” and have compared it to a “contorted mass of entrails.” Envisioned as a symbol of London looming over the site of this summer’s Olympic Games, the Orbit, which visitors will enter, ascend and explore, is designed as an attraction to rival the London Eye and Big Ben for decades to come. And, at least for now, the sculpture is also serving as a prime target for British Olympic crankiness.
“The most lasting legacy of the multimillion-pound circus about to roll into town will be a big red clot on the landscape,” the columnist Catherine Cain wrote of the Orbit in The Watford Observer, the newspaper of a town near London.
One of the most visible additions to the London skyline in decades and its tallest sculptural tower (about 70 feet higher than the Statue of Liberty), the Orbit has drawn criticism not just for its avant-garde design, but as a symbol — in spite of its mostly private financing — of the billions in government money being spent on the Olympics at a time when Britons are struggling under austerity measures put in place by the Conservative government of Prime Minister David Cameron.
The project has also brought out Londoners’ complicated feelings about public art, several people involved in the project said.
“We have a funny view about public art in Britain — it’s seen as slightly odd and elitist,” said John Simpson, an architect at Ushida Findlay, a London firm that helped transform the sculpture into a structurally sound, functional building. (The Orbit has had a more favorable reception among art and architecture critics.)
That the tower, which will open to the public with the start of the games on July 27, will have an admission price of 15 pounds ($23), on top of the 10-pound ($15) entrance fee to the park, only adds to a widespread perception of excess and elitism.
In an interview Kapoor called the Orbit’s entry fee “a lot of money for a lot of people” and said after the Olympics he’d like a price that matched his vision of a “democratic monument open to all.”
Cameron has promoted the city’s post-Olympic plans to develop the derelict district of Stratford in East London into a mixed-use development, with the Orbit as a focal point. “I think it’s time to tear up any notion of the Olympics’ leaving behind white elephants,” Cameron said in a news conference.
But 51 percent of British residents surveyed in March said they disagreed with Cameron’s statements that the Olympic Games would be well worth the 9.3 billion pounds ($14.5 billion) cost to taxpayers, according to ComRes, a polling company. Government officials have since said that that figure has risen by an estimated 20 percent to 11 billion pounds ($17.2 billion), driven largely by the cost of security.
The Orbit project got its start in 2009 after Johnson ran into Lakshmi Mittal, the chief executive of the huge steel maker ArcelorMittal and one of the world’s richest men, at the coat check room at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The mayor pitched Mittal the idea of building something to add artistic panache to the Olympic Park. Constrained by Britain’s deep recession, the city, Johnson told Mittal, needed a private donation to build its largest public art project in decades.
Mittal contributed 19.6 million pounds (or $31.4 million), almost the entire budget of the project, to have the sculpture named after his company. Nearly 60 percent of the more than 2,000 tons of steel used to make the Orbit came from recycled scrap. The materials were procured from every continent in which ArcelorMittal operates and were assembled in a factory near Manchester.
“The UK didn’t have the money that the Chinese had for Beijing,” said Ian Louden, head of brand worldwide for ArcelorMittal. He added that the company saw the structure as a chance to spread brand awareness.
In 2010 Kapoor and Balmond, who then worked for the engineering and design firm Arup (best known for its work on the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Sydney Opera House and the “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadium in Beijing), won an open competition to design something that would add pizazz to the mostly white stadiums and buildings that make up the Olympic Park.
They found inspiration for the Orbit in the Tower of Babel and Tatlin’s Tower, a helix-shaped mass of iron, glass and steel designed by the Russian artist and architect Vladimir Tatlin, but never built.
“We thought London needed a high-energy something,” Balmond said. “We thought this idea represents flux, change — and London is full of change, with various ethnic streams.”
Unlike other examples of public art, the Orbit needed a snack bar and a gift shop and is designed to please the masses of tourists who will want sweeping views of London to go with the Olympic revelry. The two elevators are equipped to carry as many as 770 visitors an hour up to the pair of observation platforms.
To descend the Orbit, visitors must meander along a winding, 1,150-foot staircase with 455 stairs. After the Olympics, the Orbit will serve as the centerpiece of a public pavilion with the capacity to host corporate events, gallery exhibitions and as many as 1 million visitors annually.
After its completion in May, Mittal donated the Orbit to the London Legacy Development Corp., which will be responsible for transforming the Olympic Park into a housing development, complete with parks, retail space and a transformed aquatics center after the games.
The Orbit will sit in the center of a grassy pedestrian area. “The key to success here is that first and foremost it’s got to appeal to the local residents,” said Andrew Altman, chief executive of the development corporation.
In spite of all the grumbling around the city, that might not be too tough. After a friend described the Orbit as an eyesore, a Londoner, Benjamin Tucker, noted in a Twitter message that “it would take an awful lot to blight East London. Stratford’s a dump!”
Source: www.bendbulletin.com
London gets ready to party for the queen - Detroit Free Press
LONDON (USA TODAY) — This is a city ready to party, with all the pomp, patriotism and eccentricity it can muster. And boy, can it muster.
Queen Elizabeth II's four-day Diamond Jubilee celebration gets underway Saturday, and London could hardly be more prepared. Or cleaner.
Spiffed up and shiny, festooned with Union-Jack bunting everywhere, including around park trees, with the queen's smiling visage plastered on every teacup and flat surface in sight, this city knows it will not see a moment like this come again soon.
It's been 115 years since the United Kingdom celebrated the only other monarch, Queen Victoria, to reach 60 years in reign; it won't happen again in the lifetime of anyone alive today.
So a million or more Brits are likely to crowd the streets and the riverbanks of London this weekend to shout, "Well done, Ma'am!" to the 86-year-old great-granny who's spent six decades on their throne, currency and stamps, and in their hearts.
"I have a lot of respect for the queen. I appreciate her dignity, the way she holds things together," says Ruth Pritchard, 62, visiting from Wales where she lives on the same island where Prince William and his wife, Catherine, duchess of Cambridge, live. "(The queen) is a very spiritual person, too, and she's a good role model."
She was wandering in St. James's Park opposite Buckingham Palace on Friday, observing the crowds and watching a marching band of military bagpipers, red-coated soldiers in bearskin hats and mounted troops march down The Mall. Her daughter, Eirian Pritchard, 30, says even young people are paying more attention to the royals, thanks to Will and Kate. "I like a love story," she says. "And Kate seems quite nice."
American tourists Maria and Mike Granatosky of Orlando watched the passing parade of sightseers and the construction workers building the stage for Monday's star-studded concert. They were heading out of London on their long-planned vacation and to "avoid the crowds," but they were still impressed with the buzz around the jubilee. "She's not our queen, but it's important to people here," Maria says. "But it's nice to see all this (preparation) beforehand."
Apart from the genuine desire to celebrate Her Majesty, the Diamond Jubilee is official London's chance to practice for the next big thing to hit town, the 2012 Summer Olympics, opening in July. Crowd and traffic control, not to mention security issues, will be even more challenging during the games, which last longer and are likely to draw more international visitors than the more homegrown jubilee celebration.
Homegrown does not mean humdrum not from the British, justly famous for their ceremonial flourishes. People here are not only proud of the queen, they're proud of their national talent for expressing their pride.
The next few days will see public events that encompass history and modernity, the future of the monarchy and the celebration of all things British. There will be horse racing and river sailing, a star-packed concert, a church service and gilded coach procession, bell-ringing, beacon-lighting and an air force flight over the Buckingham Palace balcony.
Right beside the queen throughout will be her family, with all eyes especially on her grandson and second-in-line to the throne, Prince William, and Catherine, the new royal stars. The jubilee celebrates the queen and all she's done for the country for the past six decades, but she and everyone else here know that Will and Kate are the future.
The Thames River Pageant on Sunday afternoon is the signature theatrical event of the weekend, a bow to history and to the river that has played so central a role in the life of the nation and the monarchy. A million people are likely to line the riverbanks, and millions more will watch at home, as the queen sails down the Thames accompanied by a flotilla of 1,000 ships of all shapes and sizes.
She and close family, including Will and Kate, will be on The Spirit of Chartwell, a luxury river cruiser redecorated in antique style and equipped with tiny robotic cameras operated by the BBC. It's the first time so many senior royals will travel together in one boat. Other members of her family will be on other boats in the flotilla.
Just ahead of them will be Gloriana (as in the first Queen Elizabeth), a 94-foot barge hand-carved and decorated to resemble the sort of barges royals used to travel the river hundreds of years ago. Manned by 18 rowers, including Olympians, it's the first such barge built in more than a century.
"The River Thames used to be the place where royal pageantry took place, and it's not happened for hundreds of years," says pageant master Adrian Evans, a river advocate who came up with the idea and spent two years organizing it. Now the pageant has "really caught the popular mood. It's a one-off event, very unlikely to be done again, and people will say, 'I just have to be there.' "
As is usually the case with the British, there are wacky aspects to the jubilee, with a variety of eccentric ways to honor the queen: Marmite, the yeast-based spread the British unaccountably love, has temporarily renamed itself Ma'amite.
There's bunting draped across Sloane Square and flags at the subway entrances, which would be normal for any national celebration. A giant crown-shaped floral sculpture in St James's Park? Not so much. It tops 12 feet, weighs 5 tons and took five weeks to make in Cornwall using 13,500 individual plants, according to media reports here.
There's a newly updated wax figure of the queen at Madame Tussauds, which is standard fare for any celebrity these days. The tiny Lego figure of the queen with a diamond-encrusted crown set in a miniature model of Buckingham Palace is more unusual. It's at the Legoland theme park a few miles from Windsor Castle. Even more unusual is the sand sculpture of the seated queen by artist Nicola Wood at the seventh annual sand sculpture festival in Weston-Super-Mare, a town about 140 miles west of London.
Even Heathrow Airport got into the jubilee spirit, painting a giant Union Jack with a silhouette of the queen on one of the runways so passengers can see it as they fly in.
Once famously derided (by Napoleon, no less) as a nation of shopkeepers, Britain's retailers are once again in the full roar of souvenir selling mode, just as they were for last year's royal wedding. According to a survey by consumer savings site Moneysupermarket.com, jubilee shoppers could spent nearly twice as much as last year up to $1.3 billion during the jubilee weekend.
Some of that will be souvenirs lots of souvenirs. From the jubilee tea towels sold on the streets to the shop windows cluttered with queen-emblazoned ceramic plates and canvas totes, to the elegant china and other baubles sold by the Royal Collection (royalcollectionshop.co.uk, which helps fund the upkeep of the royal palaces and art collections), queen kitsch is flying out doors and across the Internet.
Diamond Jubilee key chains and teaspoons, cookies and chocolates, hats and jewelery, bells and whistles are for sale for a few pounds (or dollars from the likes of Amazon.com). For pricier fare, the Diamond Jubilee Limited Edition Loving Cup from the Royal Collection is sold out (at about $280), but the Tea Caddy is still available at the same price, and the sky-blue Velvet Cushion is only about $150.
Hotels are selling Diamond Jubilee packages, restaurants and hotels are offering special Diamond Jubilee luxury tea service, pubs are selling Diamond Jubilee beer. Skyscrapers, such as the building Altitude 360 on the river, are selling spectacular sky-high viewing spaces, complete with picnic hampers of Champagne and crumpets, to watch the river pageant Sunday (only $800 per person). A giant portrait of the queen, made of 3,120 little cakes, will be on display (and later consumed) at a festival at the riverside Battersea Park, where thousands are likely to watch when the pageant sails by.
And for true luxury shopping, there's the all important Diamond Jubilee shoes. British designer ArunaSeth, whose shoes have clad the tootsies of Kate Middleton's younger sister, paparazzi queen Pippa Middleton, has created a line of limited edition Swarovski crystal-covered wedges in royal blue with Union-Jack trim. They're at Harrods. Only $4,800.
"I wanted to design something that celebrates being really proud to be British," she says. "And what better way than a flag? But they're really comfortable, with Italian nappa leather padding. The queen could wear them."
The queen, a woman famous for her sensible shoes? Maybe not.
Copyright 2012 USA TODAY
Source: www.freep.com
London 2012: Heathrow Airport has built a new terminal for athletes arriving for the Olympic Games - Daily Telegraph
Nick Cole, head of Olympic and Paralympic planning at Heathrow, said: "I am delighted to take over the Games Terminal, which will help us meet the challenge of record numbers of passengers and bags that we are expecting on the days after the closing ceremony."
The new Olympics Terminal has been officially handed over to Heathrow Airport's operators, BAA.
The temporary structure, put up in a staff car park, will cater for athletes and officials involved with London 2012 and be used for the three days after the closing ceremony on 12 August before being decommissioned.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Usain Bolt wants to 'wow' London - ITV
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt says he is ready to "wow" the London 2012 Olympics and put on a "great show" for the city.
The triple Olympic gold medallist looked in confident mood as he modelled his nation's new Olympic kit on the catwalk during a photocall at Village Underground in London on Friday. Bolt also danced alongside the new kit's designer, Cedella Marley.
Having returned to form to win the 100m in 9.76 seconds in Rome on Thursday and record his quickest time since smashing the world record in Berlin in 2009, the 25-year-old has set his sights on achieving more glory in London this summer.
"I'm really looking forward to competing here. I haven't competed in London in a while so I'm really looking forward to the Games.
"I know all the Jamaicans living here (in the UK) are really looking forward to it also.
"I'm just competing to put on a great show as always and I've explained that at the end of the day I just want to wow people after these Olympics (in London) so I'm looking forward to it."
Source: www.itv.com
Sussex wine served on Royal barge (From The Argus) - The Argus.co.uk
Sussex wine served on Royal barge
10:37am Saturday 2nd June 2012 in News By Siobhan Ryan
Two English wines from Sussex feted as world beaters have been selected to be served on board the royal barge as it carries the Queen and her party down the River Thames tomorrow.
The wines are an award-winning sparkling and a still white.
Familiar to wine connoisseurs will be the Nyetimber Classic Cuvee 2007, from the award-winning West Chiltington -based producer regarded as one of England's leading names in sparkling wines.
The wine is produced from the three classic champagne varieties: chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier, and is their latest vintage, released in time for the jubilee.
Also being served to the royal party will be a Stopham Pinot Blanc 2010, a dry wine produced from the pinot blanc grape from the producer's 16-acre vineyard near Pulborough The wines were selected by the caterers to the Royal barge, Spirit of Chartwell, with the help of Taurus Wines, an independent family-run wine merchant.
Owner Rupert Pritchett said: “These wines are world beaters, and it couldn't be more fitting to have some fine English wines on this very patriotic occasion."
Source: www.theargus.co.uk
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