Aldgate Landmark: London, UK

The Architecture Foundation of London hosted an international design competition for a new landmark in Aldgate, London to mark the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. One of the basic principles that define the Olympic Games is that of being open to all. That openness and all welcoming character has also been present at the site of Aldgate. The name is derived from Ale-gate, that being open to all. Unlike the other historic London city entrances, no tolls were required at Aldgate.Our approach to the design is to build both from the history of the Olympic Games and the gate. Aldgate was a portal into the city. Our design is also a portal into the city. We propose to bring the world into Aldgate by using current technology to inspire the sculpture. The design is for a three-sided elevated sculpture that is embedded with LED diodes that are integral to the structure and skin of the sculpture. The LED screen will have a 360-degree viewing window on the square. The proposal is to project images from a 360-degree full field of view video camera from city squares from around the world. The video camera will be set up in a square in each of the previous Summer Olympic cities. The camera will stream live images to the Aldgate for a period of 24 hours. That city will host events and give its residents the opportunity to send a live video message to London. A live video feed of the Aldgate will be sent back to the host city and will be projected on a temporary screen at that location. The same process will be repeated every day during the Olympic Games. The sculpture could host 342 other cities prior to the games to round out the year and is designed to be easily disassembled and moved to another location.