Social Science blog

Exploring Social Science at the British Library

02 November 2011

The view from on high

Anish Kapoor’s Olympic Orbit tower (properly called the ArcelorMittal Orbit) had its final steel ring attached to it last week -  amidst much fanfare -  and as a big fan of Anish Kapoor I pored over all the pictures (I took one myself when it was first being built – see below).

 Kapoor tower2

I ask myself whether this tower will be the iconic image for London 2012, just as the Bird’s Nest was in Beijing, but this remains to be seen, as icons clearly have a life, and a resonance of their own, and every observer has a different perspective. Looking back over the Olympic Games of yesteryear my image of Barcelona is of the diving competitors somersaulting from the diving board against a backdrop of the city of Barcelona itself and looking as if they were jumping from at least two miles up in the air. There’s a much sadder one from Munich 1972 of course: that of a hooded terrorist on the balcony of the room where the Israeli athletes were being held hostage.

It’s whatever strikes you as memorable that becomes an icon, I guess.

Iconic structures do have a head start on other aspects of the Games though, and the ‘altius’ part of the Olympic motto frequently finds an echo in extravagant and even surreal architecture. Sometimes the stadiums themselves are iconic, but often stand-alone features like towers and art works win the day. People love high, visible structures like the Skylon from the 1951 Festival of Britain (now equalled and probably surpassed in its popularity by its successor the London Eye).

The Orbit is 376 ft tall, 35 stories high, and has a central staircase which spirals down through its core. It sounds like the perfect location for those stair climbing marathons which are attracting the super-fit at the moment, but you need to take a lift to the top; though you are allowed to walk down if you choose.

And it’s not alone in utilising the seductive appeal of the tower. The Franco-British exhibition at White City in 1908, which incorporated the Olympic Games of that year, had the famous ‘flip-flap’: which was both a ride and a viewing device combined. The website ‘Winning Endeavours’ shows a newspaper picture of it:

 http://bit.ly/rqTctU

Other host cities had similar lofty structures. The Munich Games of 1972 had a wonderful tower which was (still is!) 190 meters high, and gives great views of the city and the Alps in the distance. It stands as a benign legacy of these Games, and as a much loved landmark. The Berlin Games of 1936 on the other hand managed to fit not one but three towers into its building project. The twin towers by the entrance to the stadium stand 156 feet high, and resemble brick stacks, very square and uncompromising. From a certain perspective they framed (but were actually dwarfed by) the Olympic Bell tower at 247 ft high which held the Olympic bell weighing 30,450 lbs.

Other curiosities: Montreal 2004 certainly had the quirkiest tower. Forming part of the Olympic stadium, it is said to be the largest leaning tower in the world. It looks positively Dali-esque, and may not be the ideal location for those suffering from vertigo. Rio has an even more astonishing idea for a tower (which is currently competing with other concepts for acceptance). See this webpage:

http://bit.ly/rJFFYE

Whatever your inclination, the vertically challenged (this includes me) can stand at the foot of these towers and gaze optimistically skywards; which is what the Olympics and Paralympics are all about, really.

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