It is 2011 it seems that the public have forgotten about the struggle that resulted in the Dome, the media are busy criticising the preparations for the Olympics. Back on the ground the Millennium Dome now known as the O2 is still doing exactly what it says on the tin, it is a landmark an integral part of the landscape of East London.
I made the same approach that I made 11 years earlier, into the very blue world of Alsop at North Greenwich underground station, and up the escalator into Foster’s bus terminal now happily buzzing with the ubiquitous red London Bus. Gone is the sea of red tarmac and turnstiles, in its place a dramatic promenade that gently curves its way towards the entrance on the Dome. Incidentally the dome is not a true dome in structural terms, and the best description I heard was by Paul Finch of CABE at the annual conference of my then employer, Geoffrey Reid Associates. ‘ A cable stayed shell structure.” Which would have been quite a mouthful, and in today’s culture of texts and acronyms, maybe the name the O2 is as appropriate as any other. The structure is still as impressive as it ever was and a walk inside the entrance reveals the space to be even more breathtaking than it was before, the body zone is replaced by an open space, the legs supporting the shell are fully visible in a kind of covered plaza.
‘The O2’ itself is the central arena a 20,000 seater state of the art entertainment venue where Peter Gabriel’s Circus show used to be. A smaller venue the ‘Indigo2’ hosts events with a capacity of up to 2,400. The ‘O2 Bubble’ hosts the British Music Experience. The array of entertainment pavilions that lined the circumference of the dome have now been replaced with more permanent facilities in an artificial street known as Entertainment Avenue that links all the venues including an 11 screen cinema, exhibition spaces including a vast flexible event space known as the ‘London Piazza’, with life size Tyrannosaurus Rex standing guard and a car seemingly climbing up the outside wall of the O2 Arena, the street is lined with countless bars and restaurants making it the ultimate urban entertainment centre, probably bringing it closer to the Architect’s vision. Further around the street is the colossal backstage area, a vast open space where all the trucks can park under cover giving the army of riggers, sound technicians, road crew freedom of movement to erect the stage without getting rained on when Iron Maiden comes to town.
In a sense the Dome represents a reversal of the trend that has been prevalent in the UK for a number of years which is the development of out of town shopping centres with the obligatory multiplex cinema and chain restaurants and vast car parks. Here the public transport connections are so good that there is very little need for car parking.
Outside the Dome there is life on the Greenwich Peninsula, the environmental walk is still in place, as are the exhibits giving the history of the Thames estuary. The habitat for birds on the reed beds and mud flats is more established and the sense that an area of industrial decay can be restored is very real. New mixed use blocks occupy the site that was the venue to the Blackadder experience, a street takes you down to Greenwich pier where a river boat service the ‘Thames Clipper’ is quickly becoming part of the public transport network, having the advantage of bringing large numbers of people to the events. A distance away, well a 10 minute walk, Erskine’s Millennium Village is very much part of the landscape, and its ecology park has matured.
The car park for the Millennium Experience is now occupied by the David Beckham Football Academy, a series of covered pitches that allow the sport to grow at grass roots level. New communities are being established as more residential developments near completion, the masterplan is still evolving although at a glacial pace as Hugh Pearman puts it in the July/August edition of the RIBA journal.
Walking Eastwards along the Thames footpath from the millennium village industry is still alive and well with conveyors spanning out over the Thames ready to receive gravel brought in from barges. Moving back inland the Sainsbury’s Energy Store is partly hidden by trees and vegetation as the landscape has matured around it. Out front the original dramatic white sentries with their solar panels and wind turbines have gone to be replaced by less strident vertical axis model. The site is now an integral part of the community, and what felt like rushed work in progress 12 years ago feels as though it has always been there. The roads to nowhere long since connected up and linked to the continual traffic flow through the Blackwall Tunnel passing directly under the Dome.
Green spaces that are not exactly parks, the left over cleared spaces between developments give is a sense of a tremendous amount of work still to be done, that is not underestimating the significance of the change that has been achieved. To my mind this is the result of the vision, drive and tenacity of the Architects who looked at the long term legacy of hosting events and convinced a government to back it. This is Architecture!
What of the other ‘white elephant’ the Docklands itself? Back on the Underground for two stops and the escalator takes you up beneath the glass whale that I mentioned earlier that is Foster’s canopy at Canary Wharf. Beneath the canopy is a whole other world, the ticket hall with its automatic entry gates activated by touching in and out with an ‘Oyster’ card and an orderly flow of passengers to and from the trains. A guitarist plays at the foot of the main escalator bank, making a very good instrumental metal interpretation of John Lennon’s Imagine. Both sides of the ticket hall lead directly into below ground shopping centres that run between the towers. Towers? yes Cesar Pelli’s tower is no longer alone, a ride up the escalator to a plaza in front of the glass canopy, which is now located in a lush green park known as Jubilee Gardens, with rolling lawns, scots pine trees and raised water feature that threads its way between the canopies. At the perimeter of the park, the sheer glass facades give a sense of protection and enclosure without being overbearing. Glass pavilions form entrances to the shopping level below, a huge contast to the other elephant (& castle) earlier in the story.
On the south side of the park, the winter gardens an elegant glass atrium between two office blocks and a route through to water where Chris Wilkinson’s footbridge is once again on one piece spanning across the dock known as Canada Water to a quayside lined with apartments, health centre and floating gin palaces. The DLR that I travelled on years before now threads its way between buildings at Heron Quays. Before making its way towards the Cutty Sark, now passing beneath the river and terminating at Blackheath. Turning back towards Canary Wharf the quayside forms a lively pedestrian environment, where the rush to Underground or DLR station passes by bars and restaurants, where people sit outside and do lunch or drinks after work, a far cry from the deserted wasteland of 1999. At the end of the plaza another entrance to the shopping centre and a flight of steps up to street level. Minimal traffic, mainly buses, taxis and delivery vehicles passes slowly around the park in a one way system, whilst the London Philharmonic Orchestra warm up for their summer evening concert, many people are seated on the grass enjoying the atmosphere as the music usually associated with Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter are belted out from the stage at full force, hairs on the back of the neck stuff!
London 2011
