Ripples #60

Compiled and Written by Lenny Giteck

London Aquatics Centre Named
Year’s ‘Most-Hard-to-Miss Design’

As part of its annual year-in-review roundup, the Web site InteriorDesign.net — by the magazine of the same name — picked the Aquatics Centre at the London Olympics as the “most-hard-to-miss design happening” of 2012.

Of course, “most-hard-to-miss design happening” might be construed in various ways, not all of them positive. Was Interior Design trying to hedge its bets? Given the controversial history of architect’s Zaha Hadid’s massive aquatics complex, that seems within the realm of possibility.

On the other hand, the Web site did name London’s Olympic Park in general as its top pick out of 20 for the year — observing specifically that “Zaha Hadid Architects’ Aquatics Centre reigned like the jewel in the crown of a seven-year urban-planning project that includes contributions by a host of lauded firms….”

Dame Zaha Hadid is a highly praised, much-decorated Iraqi-British architect. The many awards and accolades she has received are all the more impressive considering she is a 62-year-old Muslim woman working in an overwhelmingly male-dominated profession.

Wikipedia says of Hadid, “Her buildings are distinctively futuristic, characterized by the “powerful, curving forms of her elongated structures” with “multiple perspective points and fragmented geometry to evoke the chaos of modern life.”

While it was under construction, however, the aquatics center was severely criticized on a number of bases — not the least of which was the enormous cost overrun incurred. As far as InteriorDesign.net is concerned, it’s now apparently all water under London’s Millennium Bridge.

Images: To see photos of Zaha Hadid’s London aquatics installation, click here and then on individual shots.

Learn more: For additional information about architect Zaha Hadid, click here.

Ripples Classic: October 2010

‘Death Ray’ Fries Guests at
Luxury Las Vegas Hotel Pool

First there was the incident at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas at the end of August, in which some 100 people were treated for breathing difficulties after large amounts of chlorine leaked into the lazy river at the hotel’s pool area. Approximately 1,500 sunbathers and swimmers had to be evacuated, with 26 taken to the hospital for treatment.

Now comes word that a number of guests at the ultraluxurious Vdara Hotel, in the massive City Center complex, have been seriously burned by sunrays reflecting off the hotel’s concave, glass-sheathed façade. The effect can raise the temperature of the directed rays by 20 degrees — which certainly could do some damage considering the city’s already scorching summertime weather. Indeed, the phenomenon has actually melted plastic bags in the Vdara’s swimming pool area.

Notes a report from Yahoo News: “The building’s concave design creates a sort of magnifying-glass effect. The hotel’s designers reportedly anticipated that ill-situated humans might experience some discomfort courtesy of the building’s blinding glare, so they placed a film over the glass panes of its many windows. Obviously that didn’t quite do the trick.”

Now, Yahoo News says, the hotel is positioning large umbrellas in the pool area “while designers try to come up with another remedy.” The rather overblown term “death ray” (thankfully, no deaths so far) was coined by hotel employees to describe the phenomenon.

Images: To view the façade of the hotel and an illustration of how the offending rays work, click here.

And with that, Ripples once again says…
Until next time, happy watershaping to you!