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Simon Kennedy (website) Download Original
Sculptural steel observation tower for the London 2012 Olympic Park
Situated next to the stadium on the Olympic site, the 114m structure, Britain’s tallest sculpture, was designed as a landmark for the Games.
The asymmetric skeletal red steel structure supports a viewing platform that will be a visitor attraction during the Olympics and in legacy mode. Access to the viewing platform is provided by a lift contained within a central diagrid column, which itself is wrapped in a staircase that sprirals round the structure and is clad with graded mesh cladding.
Designed to be built without scaffolding the tower was constructed from pre-fabricated steel components, 63 per cent of which were recycled, that were assembled on site.
Data
- Begun: Nov 2010
- Completed: May 2012
- Sector: Civic
- Total cost: £22.7M
- Procurement: NEC3 Construction Management
- Address: Stratford, London, E15, United Kingdom
Materials 
Professional Team
- Architect: Ushida Findlay Architects
- Client: ArcelorMittal
- Structural engineer: Arup
- Structural engineer: Advanced Geometry Unit
- M&E engineer: Arup
- Quantity surveyor: Davis Langdon
- Project manager: Davis Langdon
- Main contractor: AELTC
- Designer : Anish Kapoor
- Designer : Cecil Balmond
