Skylon spire may return to London skyline

John Ezard, arts correspondent
Wednesday March 31, 2004
The Guardian


What London's South Bank may look like at night with the addition of the rebuilt Skylon


An ambitious plan to recreate the Skylon, the glittering spaceship-like spearhead which once rose over London as a symbol of Britain's postwar resurgence, has been put to the South Bank Centre. The structure, 88 metres (290 feet high) in internally lit aluminium-clad steel, would rise again near the Royal Festival Hall, upriver from the London Eye, only yards from where it stood as one of the two centrepieces of the Festival of Britain. The original Skylon, built in the last year of the postwar Labour government and immensely popular as a futuristic shape, was vengefully scrapped, cut in pieces and sold as ashtrays by an incoming Conservative administration.

The proposal to recreate it has come from the Royal Academy. Last night the academy president, Phillip King, told the Guardian: "It would be a new addition to the London skyline which would work marvellously against the wheel of the London Eye. "You would see it in the distance like a rocket against the circle of the wheel. It is an extraordinary and still very powerful image. I hope it comes off."

The scheme started as a move to honour the memory of Sir Philip Powell, the British architect who jointly designed the festival Skylon. Sir Philip died last May. The academy first thought of commissioning a model of the structure for display at its exhibition this summer. Then its architectural committee decided to ask an academician, the architect Ian Ritchie, to investigate the audacious notion of remaking the original structure. Mr Ritchie was chosen because he was the architect recently of the successful spire of Dublin, 120 metres high and even more slender than the Skylon.

His verdict is that it is feasible to recreate the Skylon, and that the cost need be no more than about £800,000, which could be raised privately. He has submitted a design, and an image of how it would look, to the South Bank Centre, which runs the cultural complex on the festival site. Mr Ritchie said: "It would look fantastic. Everyone I have spoken to has extraordinary sentiments about the Skylon. It was a very, very good design. I find it exciting. It was the godfather of the London Eye and the other tensile steel structures which now stand along the Thames." Professor King said: "The Skylon predated a lot of modern-day architectural ideas. It was such a breath of fresh air. It rang out like a challenge. You could say that, if it was rebuilt, the Skylon would be coming home again." Last night the South Bank Centre, preoccupied with fundraising and organising for a £70m Royal Festival Hall renovation, due to start next year, issued a neutral statement which did not rule the project out in the future. Its chief executive, Mike Lynch, said: "We would have to look at proposal as part of our plans for the wider redevelopment of the South Bank site. "Plans for Jubilee Gardens are well advanced with local stakeholders. We would not wish to prejudice discussions currently under way on the rest of the site."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1182401,00.html

My opinion, adn I am not a Brit so it means squat but, NO! not against the London skyline. It would look ugly. Might be nice in NYC, not in London.

Somebody - call Lorne Greene STAT!!