Digital 'Cloud' could form over London for the 2012 Olympics
By Donald Melanson 
posted Nov 12th 2009 2:45AM
posted Nov 12th 2009 2:45AM
No, we're not talking about "the cloud" where data goes to disappear and (hopefully) be retrieved again. We're talking about an actual (well, artificial) cloud that promises to be both a real structure and a massive digital display. That's the bright idea of a team of researchers from MIT, anyway, and it's now been shortlisted in a competition designed to find a new tourist attraction to be built in London for the 2012 Olympics. Dubbed simply "The Cloud," the structure would consist of two 400-foot tall mesh towers that are linked by a series of interconnected plastic bubbles, which would themselves house an observation deck inside and be used to display everything from Olympic scores and highlights to a "barometer of the city's interests and moods" outside (that latter bit comes courtesy of the group's partnership with Google). As if that wasn't enough, the whole thing also promises to be funded entirely by micro-payments from the public (which would also determine its final size), and be completely self-powered, with it relying on a combination of solar power and regenerative braking from the lifts in the towers. Video after the break.
if you guys build it, i will definitely shell out anything to watch the olympics from this
i'd like it more if it was some sort of 3D hologram, but this is still cool.
allright, i've thought it through, and decided this is better. --just confirming--
i guess people hated the eiffel tower when it was first built.
Yeah, but the tour eiffel is *classy*. I don't think plastic bubbles will be classy in 100 years. =/
I wonder how long it would take before the government shuts it down after numerous reports of people sliding to their death...
You know, I get the oddest feeling that people won't be ALLOWED OUTSIDE.
Will it shower us with tea and crumpets?
I sure hope so, I love tea and crumpets. I'd prefer a scone with my tea though tbh. I love being British.
IT BETTER SOLVE WORLD HUNGER IF IT SHOWERS US WITH TEA AND CRUMPETS.
I always try to avoid posting negative comments here but with this I'll make an exception.
I think it looks fugly and I hope it never gets built.
Solar power in London. That's cruel, MIT, just cruel. :D
:-(
Nice one!
Could be wose, they could have said Edinburgh or Glasgow :P
Looks like they pulled a Samsung with this one too.
i think its sweet. then again i don't live in London and won't have to look at it
Yes Watching birds fly into it while standing inside will be awesome!!
looks wank!! it will probably only be finished after the Olympics, like the Millennium Bridge and the Millennium Wheel (London Eye), or be a political nightmare, like the Millennium Dome... is history doomed to repeat itself?
Concept is cool but realistically it looks to be an eyesore.
Plus, does anyone else reckon the pictures of people *cycling* down the huge spiral towers looks dangerous? :O
Great. So now not only does Google know everything about you, they'll also broadcast it all over London.
"...the whole thing also promises to be funded entirely by micro-payments from the public (which would also determine its final size)."
It'll end up being a 1 meter statue outside the stadium.
Ha! That's the first thing I thought of too.
Like Stonehenge at a Spinal Tap concert!
Are those people climbing the spiral?
How does regenerative braking generate electricity? It only recovers it, you need to input more than you get.
they harness the awesome power of the sun as well
they're obviously using that to cover up something..
Oh, c'mon. We all know that the Olympics in 2012 will be called off. So why bother?
And remember: You heard it first from Charlie Frost!
Wow the voice-over talks a lot of arty nonsense.
I thought the same, and - maybe its last night's scotch still lingering - but she sounds kinda like the Palm Pre girl. Now Im not so sure about London in 2012.
Although I agree this concept looks hideous, this is what we architects call a vision or fantasy. And HK, for your information, the Millennium Dome is now the 02 arena owned by 02 which is pretty much one of the best venues to host music events in the country, if the not the best alongside Wembley. Bon Jovi is coming there alongside some other big names. @ John, Tea and Crumpets isn't the local food and drink here, it's Curry and Beer, come down to Birmingham, the Balti Capital or Leicester/Bradford where practically 50% of the population is Indian/Pakistani/Banglaeshi. Us minorities (Black/Asian Indians and Orientals) are the majority population in London and Birmingham plus you won't see any tea and crumpets or guys in bowler suit hats, you'll probably see some gangsta wannabes with some very bad Midland/Yorkshire accents :-)
@Mark, oh this is happening for sure, but then I suppose I'm hanging out on a tech news site and not an architect forum such as skyscrapercity.com, but either way, both!
This isn't definitely happening, this is just one of the proposals that Boris Johnson is looking at.
Quote from BBC:
"The Cloud was shortlisted in a competition set up by London Mayor Boris Johnson.
The mayor has committed to build a tourist attraction in the Olympic Park "with a legacy for the east end [of London]".
Other finalists are thought to include the former Turner prize winner Anish Kapoor and Antony Gormley, the designer of the Angel of the North.
The mayor is still in the "process of deciding" which design will be commissioned, according to a spokesperson.
However, the team, which also includes the writer Umberto Eco and engineers from Arup, has decided to push ahead and publish details of its design."
Seems like they're pretty confident they will be selected
@PlusPlus
the competition is for funding, they are planning on building it regardless from donations - just if they win the comp they can make it bigger and better!
yeah but will it run crysis?
I had to stop watching the video, the voice is so irritating :P Talk properly fool!
dude stop bashing this. its not about the voice in the video, or about how ugly this building looks. the mere fact that us, the human race, have evolved so much that we can create this building with realistic goals is amazing.
It will only be a success if it shows the beautiful face of Morena Baccarin beaming down and promising Peace, always.
Not to sound utterly pathetic but it looks like a Doctor Who set. Keep expecting Daleks to overrun London from this "Cloud." I absolutely LOVE it...then again i'm far away in NY and wouldn't have to have to deal with it daily.
Alien invasion. A giant frog laid its sleazy eggs up in the sky.
London has enough real clouds.
the views into and out of a mass of spherical objects is going to be atrocious.
for a brief demo locate your local pub. down five shots of whatever they'll serve you. then walk outside.
In my opinion: total waste of money. Sorry, guys.
Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." .. (In simpler words) Behold! Before you is a humble stage performer, cast, against his will, by the whims of fate, to the roles of both victim and villain. The face you see now is not just some meaningless costume. It is a remnant of the People's Voice, which has since gone and disappeared. However, this past annoyance stands courageously reborn and has sworn to conquer the evil and corrupt, who promote greed and the violent suppression of free will. The only choice is vengeance; a personal war held as a promise, but not in vain, for the importance and self-evidence of this quest shall one day exonerate the watchful and the righteous. But in truth, this thick soup of words has become too excessive. So, let me simply finish by saying that it's my very good honor to meet you, and you may call me V.~
.. meant to only post the fist half......
I agree with so many others here that this is ugly. Whatever coolness and usefulness it might offer seems temporary, and it will probably cost a lot to maintain if it's ever built.
If you build it ... they will come.
As a Londoner, I like it. I hope it won't look like one of those tasty burgers on the menu poster, but be a real hash when you see it for real.
But I thought the London Eye would be terrible before it was built, and it is now the most popular attraction in London, and really looks impressive.
Anyway, will any of us live past 2012 to care ... ;-)
Behold, your doom!
This will end the world.
Why is an American university designing an attraction for a British city? Isn't there enough home-grown talent to fund and encourage?
Get ready to violently vote me down,
I don't like it, looks like it would become a cheap looking mess reminiscent of a garbage dump, which might fit london (?) but is not very nice
im sure a bolt will come loose and someone's bubble pod will meet an unfortunate pop, but hey it may float maybe!
What an absolutely ridiculous waste of time energy & precious resources. Do we really need such a massive advertising tower made of plastic & metal with very little practical function?
As Rob Hopkins says on his fantastic blog - http://www.transitionculture.org "While I think there may be a role for “celebrations of technology”, the kinds of technology I want to celebrate are those that are appropriate in scale, contribute to the strengthening of community and culture, are capable of functioning in a lower energy world, have low embodied energy in their creation, can be owned by the communities surrounding them, not by distant corporations, and which are aesthetically pleasing. I see little to celebrate about technology that flaunts itself in your face whether you want it to or not, sells itself to the highest corporate bidder, and allows corporate messaging to elbow its way into your mental stream unbidden at all hours of night and day."