The Eiffel Tower gone wrong. The tower that Buffy the Vampire Slayer jumped off.
The ArcelorMittal Orbit has been called many things but the extraordinary Olympic structure was all but completed on Friday.
The 377ft sculpture was always meant to walk on art and engineering’s wild side.
In fact it is twice the size of the Eiffel.
The Orbit is in a different league, not simply because of its scale, but because it was planned as a habitable sculpture – the Statue of Liberty is another – and one that would live on for generations after the London 2012 Olympics.
Boris Johnson wanted the ArcelorMittal Orbit “to arouse the curiosity and wonder of Londoners”. It may well do more than this. Jokes, barbs and insults aside, the Orbit might just push architecture into fresh, and perhaps unsettling, adventures. It may well take some while to adjust to its new ways.
The final loop of the tower sprung into place on Friday. The �22.7m tower next to Stratford’s Oympic Stadium will have two observation decks and a restuarant when it opens in the spring.
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