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The ArcelorMittal Orbit is a 114.5 metre (376 feet) tall sculpture and observation tower in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London. It is Britain's largest piece of public art,〔(Tim Adams: "Anish Kapoor's Orbit tower: the mother of all helter-skelters" ) in ''The Guardian'', 5 May 2012〕 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 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 Sir Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond of engineering Group Arup. 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 high, and Orbit was the unanimous choice from proposals considered by a nine-person advisory panel. The project was expected to cost £19.1 million, with £16 million coming from Britain's 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. Kapoor and Balmond believe that Orbit represents a radical advance in the architectural field of combining sculpture and structural engineering, and that it combines 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. It has also been criticised as a vanity project, of questionable lasting use or merit as a public art project. The ArcelorMittal Orbit closed after the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, while the South Plaza area of the Park (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 is being modified to incorporate the world's tallest and longest tunnel slide, at 178m in length and 76m in height. The slide, which will incorporate transparent sections to give a "different perspective" of the twisting red tower, is expected to be completed by 2016 and will cost £5 to use. This follows an option to abseil down the tower, which was introduced in 2014. ==History== 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".〔 A design competition held in 2009 called for designs for an "Olympic tower". It received about 50 submissions.〔 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.〔 The media reported unconfirmed details of the project in October 2009, describing the interest of the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, Britain's richest man, 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.〔〔 At that time there were understood to be five short-listed artists, including Antony Gormley, being considered.〔 Early designs reportedly included 'Transmission' by Paul Fryer, a high structure "resembling a cross between a pylon and a native American totem pole", according to ''The Times''.〔 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.〔〔 Mittal's involvement came about after a chance meeting with Johnson in a cloakroom in Davos in January 2009,〔 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.〔 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."〔 Johnson has said that, "In reality, ArcelorMittal has given much more than the steel."〔 Kapoor's and Balmond's Orbit was announced as the winner on 31 March 2010.〔 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.〔 According to ''The Times'', Gormley's design was a 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.〔 Johnson and Jowell agreed to issue a commission for Orbit in partnership with Mittal after it was chosen by a 9 person advisory panel brought together by them to advise on a long list of proposals.〔〔 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.〔 Kapoor described it as "the commission of a lifetime".〔 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."〔 The completed structure was officially unveiled to the press and public on 11 May 2012. The structure is being re-purposed to become the world's longest slide, expected to be completed in 2016.〔http://www.archdaily.com/771049/londons-arcelormittal-orbit-tower-will-soon-be-the-worlds-tallest-slide〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「ArcelorMittal Orbit」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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