Anish Kapoor’s Orbit Tower, built to somehow celebrate the Olympics and give people a reason to visit East London once the event finished, is getting a reworking. It’s being turned into an enormous helter skelter, in possibly one of the greatest public planning decisions in millennia.
The tower will eventually house a staggering 180m enclosed tunnel slide, which will loop the tower five times before delivering passengers — probably screaming and leaving a trail of their own urine and faeces behind them — to the bottom along a 50m straight deceleration stretch.
You will, of course, have to pay for the trip, but organisers are hoping to keep the price low, with an expected ticket price of just $10 being punted by the managers of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. It’s due to open for business next spring.
The park’s visitor relations boss said: “What more exciting way to descend the ArcelorMittal Orbit than on the world’s longest and tallest tunnel slide? We are committed to ensuring our visitors have the best possible day out every time they visit Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, and as with all our venues, we are constantly exploring ways to ensure we lead the way with the latest visitor experience. This slide really will give a different perspective of Britain’s tallest sculpture.”
[City AM]
Images by Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
This post originally appeared on Gizmodo UK, which is gobbling up the news in a different timezone.