Dezeen Magazine

Olympic viewing platform by Office for Subversive Architecture

Londoners frustrated by the 3m fence and aggressive security protecting the Olympic Park construction site in east London were given a temporary viewing platform recently by Office for Subversive Architecture.

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Called Point of View, the stair-like platform was created in collaboration with Blueprint magazine as a protest about the secrecy surrounding preparations for the 2012 Olympics - but was removed by security guards after two days.

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"Access to and views of the site are nearly impossible for the curious visitor to obtain," writes Blueprint editor Vicky Richardson in the August issue, for which the project was devised.

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"We placed it alongside the fence that surrounds the park, not as a provocation but as a gesture of friendliness, openness and enthusiasm for the games - a spirit seemingly unknown to the many official bodies organising them and developing the east London site."

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The platform was in place from 6am on 12 June, but was removed by the Olympic Delivery Authority on 14 June.

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Photographs by David Cowlard; see blog here.

The following information is from Blueprint:

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Point of View

A 3 metre high, 17 kilometre long, blue fence surrounds the Olympic Park in east London. The Olympic Delivery Authority employs poker-faced security guards to patrol the perimeter of the site and stop visitors from taking photographs. Workmen armed with pots of the regulation cyan blue, paint out graffiti on a daily basis.

In response to the ODA’s attempt to block views of the site, and its failure to take advantage of a historic opportunity to get people interested in architecture, Blueprint asked Office for Subversive Architecture to create a viewing platform.

Point of View was designed and built in a matter of days, and installed by Blueprint staff with Bruce and Sam Tipper (the joiners who made it) and OSA’s Karsten Huneck and Bernd Truempler at 6am on 12 June. Point of View remained in position for several days before being removed by the ODA.