Next Project

'A Great British Olympics' London 2012

Part 2 Project 2005
Sophie Goldhill
Sachintha Pramod Rathnayaka Manamperi
Royal College of Art | UK
The project readdresses the traditional 'chocolate box' images of famous London landmarks, pushing them into the new millennium by bringing the games back into the heart of the city. Situating SHOOTING at the TOWER OF LONDON, CYCLING round the G.L.A and HIGH DIVING off TOWER BRIDGE

Masterplan

The masterplan uses the river Thames as 'a string of pearls' to connect the 54 Olympic events. The masterplan is divided up into six zones that circumvent bridge crossing. The zones are clustered around famous London landmarks that are temporarily utilised by this parasitic architecture to house a variety of different sporting events.

The project specifically looks at the most eastern of these zones 'the tower zone'.

Architecture

The architecture is formed with a series of temporary structures that clip on to the existing landmarks, amplifying and appropriating meaning. The design of the architectural 'kit' is reconfigurable depending on need and use.

Legacy

The masterplan affects both local and global perceptions of the city, before, during and after the event. Structuring London as a framed stage, the city is united both physically, through the reconditioning of the Thames and London landmarks, and socially, as an event that promotes sport and activity to the masses.

What is left is the memory of 'A great British Olympics' and a dynamic reconfigurable public space along the Thames.

Sophie Goldhill
Sachintha Pramod Rathnayaka Manamperi


Sophie's project explores the relationship between branding, architecture, event and the city.

She looks to branding because it is a highly sophisticated contemporary mechanism. A mechanism that accounts for the consumer and the consumed in its self-projection. In Sophie's thesis project she is not simply a designer, but a creative strategists, able to understand the possibilities of product and materiality as well as the interplay of cultural and social mechanisms.

Sophie investigates the possibilities and opportunities that are presented when a major global event occurs within a city. She is using the London Olympic Games 2012 as a catalyst to speculate on London as 'Event City'.

She asks…how might such an event change London…?

The Games are an agent of change, possibly a catalyst for a drive towards a more vibrant, inclusive and sustainable London.

Her aim…? to make London gorgeous…

Tutor(s)

2005
• Page Hits: 3865         • Entry Date: 04 July 2005         • Last Update: 04 July 2005