Comments on: Is the Millennium London Eye a Good Thing or a Bad Thing? https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/is-the-millennium-london-eye-a-good-thing-or-a-bad-thing/ Gardenvisit.com Sun, 14 Jul 2013 21:32:33 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 By: Andy https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/is-the-millennium-london-eye-a-good-thing-or-a-bad-thing/#comment-1451 Sun, 14 Jul 2013 21:32:33 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3092#comment-1451 I personally think the London Eye is a good thing. It’s actually an observation wheel rather than a theme park ride and as it takes around 30 minutes to do one full rotation it’s hardly a “white knuckle” ride.

Besides the views that it allows tourists to see of London, in particluar Wetminster and the Thames is breath taking. As these videos show… http://www.londoneyediscount.co.uk/videos-of-london-eye/ I think the London Eye is something that is memorable once you have been on it and it allows you to take some good pictures or footage of London that you wouldn’t have otherwise been able to take.

Also, the London Eye is the largest of its kind and there are a number of similar wheels around that world that have run out of funding and are never likely to get finished. Which is a shame.

]]> By: Christine https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/is-the-millennium-london-eye-a-good-thing-or-a-bad-thing/#comment-1450 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:47:02 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3092#comment-1450 Landscape Character and Scenic Quality are very interesting terms.

Beginning with Landscape character would Tom agree with the division into natural and agricultural landscapes?

Natural Landscapes.

Australian Landscape [ http://www.ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/weblog.php?/weblog/2006/10/18/ ]
Canadian Landscape [ http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2090198070031754851mxUXcw ]

Agricultural Landscapes.

British Landscape [ http://www.allaboutyou.com/country/how-farmers-shape-countryside/v1 ]
French Landscape [ http://www.frenchgardening.com/aujardin.html?pid=1213276841541215 ]
Greek Landscape [ http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarako/2288707676/ ]
Indian Landscape [ http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonrisa/190096077/ ]

]]> By: Tom Turner https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/is-the-millennium-london-eye-a-good-thing-or-a-bad-thing/#comment-1449 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:25:11 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3092#comment-1449 Yes to quirkyness and unpredictability – not so sure about kookiness. But my general view is to produce a Scenic Quality Assessment, after doing a Landscape Character Assessment, and then make a presumption in favour of conserving the areas of highest quality and improving the areas of lowest quality. So the Westminster Riverside would be a scenic conservation area. See http://www.gardenvisit.com/book/landscape_planning_and_environmental_impact_design:_from_eia_to_eid/chapter_7_agriculture_farming_and_countryside_policy/scenic_conservation_and_enhancement

]]> By: Alison https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/is-the-millennium-london-eye-a-good-thing-or-a-bad-thing/#comment-1448 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:06:44 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3092#comment-1448 I am drawn to the tension between ‘kookiness’ and strategy – ask the average person in the street and they will bristle against a planned landscape because the results are so often sterile. So our job then is to formulate landscape strategy that brings clarity and control over the bigger picture whilst postively encouraging the wearing of kooky pants.

As to the London eye itself – the current position makes for a great package with the South Bank, the new bridges and even makes the charing cross building seem like less of a mistake. I feel it ties the modern elements together and gives London a vital modern face. It could have looked great in other places along the thames too, but it brings the biggest postive impact where it is. Perhaps we need more (but different)?!

Finally, the owners should now be charged 10m/year for the land.

]]> By: Tom Turner https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/is-the-millennium-london-eye-a-good-thing-or-a-bad-thing/#comment-1447 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:59:14 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3092#comment-1447 Good point. W G Hoskins, in The Making of the English Landscape, wrote about ‘the marvelous unexpectedness of the English countryside’ and it applies to London too.

]]> By: Daniel Sheedy https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/is-the-millennium-london-eye-a-good-thing-or-a-bad-thing/#comment-1446 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:57:57 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3092#comment-1446 ‘Are you suggesting that this is the BEST POSSIBLE location for the London Eye and that there would have been no point in consulting landscape architects about its siting?’

Actually I agree with you. Somewhere east of London Bridge would have been more appropriate considering all the arguments and I’m quite certain most landscape architects would have been opposed to the siting of the eye at its present location (on a permanent basis) had they been consulted. But actually what I love about London is its unpredictability. It has a kookiness about it that Paris doesn’t have and its all the richer for it. Every now and then somebody does something daft like site a ferris wheel in front of the most famous parliamentary building in the world and it works(sort of). Its a happy accident and dissenting voices are rare so let it be!

]]> By: Tom Turner https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/is-the-millennium-london-eye-a-good-thing-or-a-bad-thing/#comment-1445 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:02:49 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3092#comment-1445 Too sadly right about the Westminster Parliamentary Circus. But we should not encourage them! Their job is, or should be, to take serious decisions on serious matters in accordance with the wishes and interests of the people.
Are you suggesting that this is the BEST POSSIBLE location for the London Eye and that there would have been no point in consulting landscape architects about its siting?

]]> By: Daniel Sheedy https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/is-the-millennium-london-eye-a-good-thing-or-a-bad-thing/#comment-1444 Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:42:35 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3092#comment-1444 I wonder if its not a generational thing. Will the next generation associate the eye with carnival ferris wheels or carnival ferris wheels with the london eye? If we didn’t associate ferris wheels with carnivals we would see them differently not as follies but as the beautiful striking things that they are. I agree with Lord Rogers on this, the Eiffel Tower came in for alot of stick at the time of its construction as well…and why so precious about the houses of parliament? Surely Westminster is a circus by any reasonable definition!

]]> By: Tom Turner https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/is-the-millennium-london-eye-a-good-thing-or-a-bad-thing/#comment-1443 Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:14:18 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3092#comment-1443 A great set of images thank you!
One of the things I admire about the London Eye is the way the architects, David Marks and Julia Barfield, initiated the project themselves. Waiting for clients to come up with good ideas is a mugs game. Far better for designers to have the ideas and then seek clients to implement them. So if any designers reading this post would like publicity for a good design with a good impact on the landscape: LET US KNOW.

]]> By: Christine https://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/is-the-millennium-london-eye-a-good-thing-or-a-bad-thing/#comment-1442 Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:56:13 +0000 http://www.gardenvisit.com/blog/?p=3092#comment-1442 Perhaps this is the iconic photograph? [ http://www.tourist-information-uk.com/london-eye.htm ]

It is worth considering that the best thing about the London Eye might not be what it is like to look at, or how it interacts with its context but what it is like to look from.
[ http://interwalk.com/2006/11/26/london-eye/ ].

This perspective is just a little different from the Ferris Wheel. [ http://www.confetti.co.uk/venues/template.asp?venueId=3328 ]and[ http://www.autospectator.com/cars/topics/london ]
It has become not just a viewing platform but a place…[ http://www.yogawarrior.co.za/Events/CarpeDiem06/LondonSeries/tabid/2166/Default.aspx ]with endless different uses!
[ http://www.londonrestaurantfestivalblog.com/page/2/ ]

Seen from this perspective the Eye ties together disparate historic and contemporary elements in its context.
[ http://www.autospectator.com/cars/topics/london ]

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