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First venue of £6bn Olympic Park is finished: a tin shed
Shekhar Bhatia and Matthew Beard10.11.09
IT MAY not win any architectural prizes but a lime-green building made of old shipping containers has become the first London 2012 Olympic Park venue to be completed.
The low-budget "View Tube", which is bound to please advocates of an Austerity Games, offers views of many of the venues for the Games currently being built.
The spartan design is what remains of a pre-recession plan by the Government to commission a state-of-the-art community centre and was unveiled with little fanfare by Olympic legacy minister Shahid Malik.
Visitors can observe the £6billion construction project taking shape from a viewing tower. The building, which is on the Greenway public footpath that runs next to the Stratford site, doubles as a community centre, with café, arts and education suite and cycle hire.
Previously Londoners were only able to view the 600-hectare site through portholes in the seven-mile long perimeter fence or on free bus tours.
Olympic officials have installed a viewing picture guide pointing out the geographical location of the venues.
Venues on view include the 80,000 seat Olympic stadium and the aquatics centre, designed by Zaha Hadid.
Visitor Alex Taylor, 36, said: "I have been walking around here for more than a year looking at the stadium and when I first saw this tower, it took me by surprise. It isn't the most beautiful of structures. But I suppose it will be useful in the years to come as the stadium takes shape."
Olympic Delivery Authority chairman John Armitt said: "The View Tube has an unrivalled view of the Olympic Park and will be a fantastic facility for people to come and watch the Olympic Park taking shape."
Security is tight around the stadium and some members of the public have been angered by police stopping them under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, particularly student photographers.
Middlesex University lecturer Michael Bradley said: "The public have always had the right to walk alongside the stadium, but there had been a reluctance to allow students to take photographs. This stand changes the atmosphere into one of welcoming, rather than barring, people and it affords a good view of the stadium."
Reader views (3)
So when is the cafe open and what is the standard of fare? There are few around that area and it is on an excellent walking route.
- Peter, Redbridge
It is a pity it is bright yellow. Enormous sums of money have been spent on very high quality site hoardings which have been torn down after very little use. Could they not have been reused on this building? Also the photograph above is taken from a position where a hideous, unsympathetic, and in my view badly designed section of the security fence has been erected alongside the Greenway.
- Patrick, Dalston
How much 6 bn was spent on this project? The trains offer a rather good view so why visit a tin shed?
- Bj, East London
