ArcelorMittal Orbit

The ArcelorMittal Orbit (often referred to as the Orbit Tower or its original name, Orbit) is a 114.5-metre (376-foot) sculpture and observation tower in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London. It is Britain's largest piece of public art, and is intended to be a permanent lasting legacy of London's hosting of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, assisting in the post-Olympics regeneration of the Stratford area. Sited between the Olympic Stadium (now called London Stadium) and the Aquatics Centre, it allows visitors to view the whole Olympic Park from two observation platforms.

Orbit was designed by Turner-Prize winning artist Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond of Arup Group, an engineering firm. Announced on 31 March 2010, it was expected to be completed by December 2011. The project came about after Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell decided in 2008 that...Read more

The ArcelorMittal Orbit (often referred to as the Orbit Tower or its original name, Orbit) is a 114.5-metre (376-foot) sculpture and observation tower in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London. It is Britain's largest piece of public art, and is intended to be a permanent lasting legacy of London's hosting of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, assisting in the post-Olympics regeneration of the Stratford area. Sited between the Olympic Stadium (now called London Stadium) and the Aquatics Centre, it allows visitors to view the whole Olympic Park from two observation platforms.

Orbit was designed by Turner-Prize winning artist Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond of Arup Group, an engineering firm. Announced on 31 March 2010, it was expected to be completed by December 2011. The project came about after Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell decided in 2008 that the Olympic Park needed "something extra". Designers were asked for ideas for an "Olympic tower" at least 100 metres (330 ft) high: Orbit was the unanimous choice from proposals considered by a nine-person advisory panel. Kapoor and Balmond believed that Orbit represented a radical advance in the architectural field of combining sculpture and structural engineering, and that it combined both stability and instability in a work that visitors can engage with and experience via an incorporated spiral walkway. It has been both praised and criticised for its bold design, and has especially received criticism as a vanity project of questionable lasting use or merit as a public art project.

The project was expected to cost £19.1 million, with £16 million coming from Britain's then-richest man, the steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman of the ArcelorMittal steel company, and the balance of £3.1 million coming from the London Development Agency. The name "ArcelorMittal Orbit" combines the name of Mittal's company, as chief sponsor, with Orbit, the original working title for Kapoor and Balmond's design.

The ArcelorMittal Orbit temporarily closed after the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games while the South Plaza (in which Orbit is positioned) underwent reconstruction for its long-term legacy use as a public outdoor space. It re-opened to the public on 5 April 2014. The structure incorporates the world's tallest and longest – 178 m (584 ft) – tunnel slide, designed by Carsten Höller. The idea was originally envisioned by the London Legacy Development Corporation as a way to attract more visitors to the tower. The slide includes transparent sections to give a "different perspective" of the twisting red tower and was completed in June 2016. This follows an option to abseil down the tower, introduced in 2014.

According to London mayor Boris Johnson, in around October 2008 he and Tessa Jowell decided that the site in Stratford, London that was to become the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympics needed "something extra" to "distinguish the East London skyline", and "arouse the curiosity and wonder of Londoners and visitors".[1]

A design competition held in 2009 called for designs for an "Olympic tower". It received about 50 submissions.[2] Johnson has said that his early concept for the project was something more modest than Orbit, along the lines of "a kind of 21st-century Trajan's Column", but this was dropped when more daring ideas were received.[1]

The media reported unconfirmed details of the project in October 2009, describing the interest of the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, one of Britain's richest men, in funding a project that would cost around £15 million. Boris Johnson was believed to want something like the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty.[3][4] At that time there were understood to be five artists being considered, including Antony Gormley.[3] Early designs reportedly included 'Transmission' by Paul Fryer, a 400-foot (120 m) high structure "resembling a cross between a pylon and a native American totem pole", according to The Times.[3] A spokesman for Johnson would only confirm that he was "keen to see stunning, ambitious, world-class art in the Olympic Park", and that work on commissioning the project was at an early stage.[3][4]

Mittal's involvement came about after a chance meeting with Johnson in a cloakroom in Davos in January 2009,[5] as they were on their way to separate dinner engagements. In a conversation that reportedly lasted 45 seconds Johnson pitched the idea to Mittal, who immediately agreed to supply the steel.[1] Mittal later said of his involvement, "I never expected that this was going to be such a huge project. I thought it was just the supply of some steel, a thousand tonnes or so, and that would be it. But then we started working with artists and I realised that the object was not just to supply steel but to complete the whole project. It took us almost 15 months of negotiation and discussion."[6] Johnson has said that, "In reality, ArcelorMittal has given much more than the steel."[1]

Kapoor's and Balmond's Orbit was announced as the winner on 31 March 2010.[7] According to The Guardian, Orbit was chosen from a short list of three, beating a design by Antony Gormley and one by the architectural firm Caruso St John.[8] According to The Times, Gormley's design was a 390-foot (120 m) steel colossus titled Olympian Man, a trademark piece of a statue of himself, rejected mainly on the grounds of its projected cost, estimated at £40 million.[9]

Johnson and Jowell agreed to issue a commission for Orbit in partnership with Mittal after it was chosen by a nine-person advisory panel brought together by them to advise on a long list of proposals.[1][7] According to Mittal, the panel made a unanimous decision to pick Orbit, as it both represented the Olympic Games and was achievable within the ambitious time frame.[2] Kapoor described it as "the commission of a lifetime".[7]

Johnson pre-empted possible criticism during the official launch by stating: "Of course some people will say we are nuts – in the depths of a recession – to be building Britain’s biggest ever piece of public art. But both Tessa Jowell and I are certain that this is the right thing for the Stratford site, in Games time and beyond."[1]

The completed structure was officially unveiled to the press and public on 11 May 2012.[10]

An image of the structure was included in the 2015 design of the British passport.[11][12]

The structure was re-purposed with the world's longest slide in 2016, as a way to attract more visitors.[13]

^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference OrbitBrochureP3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ a b Cite error: The named reference OrbitBrochureP5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Times25Oct2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Telegraph25Oct2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ Cite error: The named reference Times1Apr2010Hoyle was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ Cite error: The named reference Telegraph3Apr2010Cave was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference GLARelease31Mar2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ Cite error: The named reference Guardian31Mar2010Brown was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ Cite error: The named reference Times11Apr2010GourlayRuiz was invoked but never defined (see the help page). ^ Williams, Helen (11 May 2012). "Anish Kapoor's Olympic Orbit tower unveiled". The Independent. London. Retrieved 14 May 2012. ^ Tucker, Emma (3 November 2015). "UK creatives feature in updated British passport design". Dezeen. Retrieved 9 October 2018. ^ Introducing the new UK passport design (PDF). HM Passport Office. 2015. p. 17. Retrieved 9 October 2018. ^ "London's ArcelorMittal Orbit Tower Will Soon Be the World's Tallest Slide". archdaily.com. 29 July 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
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