Millennium Legacies - Pushing the Limits: New Adventures in Engineering - page 66

meter of 320 meters (a circumference of a full kilometer) and covers eighty thousand square meters
of exhibition, entertainment, and eating space at a cost per unit area said to be less than that of the
most economical retail space. Using the customary comparative method employed in describing
such large structures, promotional material declared that the entire Eiffel Tower could be laid on
its side under the Millennium Dome. The shallow (fifty-meter-high) dome is suspended from 2,600
steel cables attached to a circle of twelve steel masts (each one hundred meters high). As temporary
as the masts may appear, they are a permanent part of the permanent design of the structure, which
looks not unlike an enormous scalloped shell or a gigantic hubcap suspended from a ring of con-
struction cranes. The dome has also been described as looking like a “partly flattened mushroom
punctured by a circle of 12 pins.”
Needless to say, as remarkable a structural-engineering accomplishment as it is, the Millennium
Dome has had its detractors, and not only because of how it looks. The structure of the dome may
successfully keep the sun and rain out, but its contents and operation were generally considered
overall to have been disappointments. Guests at the gala New Year's Eve opening, which was atten-
ded by the queen and the prime minister, a staunch supporter of the dome, had to wait in long lines
to gain admission. The following day, the exhibition was open to the general public, which was sup-
posed to flock to its exhibits, events, and eateries and help provide an infusion of cash to support
it financially. A good many people came at first, but the expected crowds were not sustained, and
the government had to continue to infuse money into the embarrassing project, which in the end
could be justified only because “the reputation of the U.K.” was at stake, according to a report by
the kingdom's comptroller and auditor general. The total final cost was of the order of one billion
pounds.
Though the dome structure itself was to be a permanent fixture, its contents were meant to last
only for the calendar year 2000. By the end of February 2001, they were on the public auction block.
At first it appeared that the dome itself would be sold to a Japanese firm, but then it was announced
that it would be sold to a developer with ties to the Labour Party for £125 million and would be
turned into a high-tech business park. Controversy surrounding the arrangement left the future use
of the dome uncertain. Finally, in early 2004, it was decided that the dome would be given to Amer-
ican billionaire Philip Amschutz, who was to turn it into a twenty-thousand-seat entertainment ven-
ue.
Not all millennium projects were prompted by or supported by the Millennium Commission, but
it did inspire others to join the celebration. The Times of London, in cooperation with the Archi-
tecture Foundation, sponsored a design competition for a landmark for the millennium. Though in
the end no winner was chosen, the competition spurred the architects David Marks and Julia Bar-
field, who now head up the husband-and-wife firm of Marks Barfield Architects, to think about
something in the tradition of the Crystal Palace and the Eiffel Tower. Their concept, which was
publicized by the London Evening Standard, was to erect the largest observation wheel in the world
in Jubilee Gardens, on the south bank of the River Thames, between Westminster and Hungerford
bridges and just downriver from the Houses of Parliament. When riders reached the top of the Mil-
lennium Wheel, as the planned structure came to be called, they would look down on everything
else in central London and, on a clear day, would be able to see as far as Heathrow Airport and
Windsor Castle, twenty-five miles away.