Eiffel Tower with a hat on / Tate with paint on (Friday 11 April 2008)

compiled by Astrid Lucas

Quoi?

Artist’s impression of the altered Eiffel Tower viewed from the Trocadero, Paris; image held here

Is it a hoax?

For its 120th birthday next year, the Eiffel Tower would apparently like feature a new design... Suffering from its success (it's the most visited monument in the world with more than 6.5 million visitors a year), the Iron Lady needs some changes to welcome people in comfort.

Artist’s impression of the altered Eiffel Tower; image held here

The idea, which would be launched by the Tour Eiffel Exploitation Society (Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel), would be brought to fruition by Serero Architects.

The restoration would consist of the restructuring of the third level: a big collar, 1400 m2, constructed from carbon kevlar, steel connectors and metal mesh would be built around the top of the tower. This would provide 580 m2 of floor space, instead of the 280 m2 currently available. The new floor area would be able to welcome 1700 visitors per hour who will benefit from a 360-degree view of the French capital. The cost announced for this project is around 1.3 million euro.

Already critics are concerned about this transformation, but purists be assured - the project, if it is realised, would be temporary. Or maybe just imaginary.

Artist’s impression of the altered Eiffel Tower, viewing platform; image held here

Sources : http://www.serero.com/index_fr.htm ; http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/24/france.design ;
http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=2072

Street look for the Tate

Tate Modern, London; image held here

After the suppositions and rumors of the previous item, a note on a real and concrete project that is going to take place, not in the French capital any more, but in the English one. In few weeks, London’s Tate Modern, former thermal power station, is going to wear a new façade. Between 23 May and the end of August, six internationally renowned urban graffiti artists, chosen by the museum, will participate in the Street art at Tate Modern exhibition, and they will cover the 35m-high walls with graffiti. The artists are Blu, from Bologna, the New York artist collective Faile, the French photographer JR, Sixeart from Barcelona and Os Gemeos and Nunca from São Paulo. Each will produce a graffiti piece 12m x 15m on the building's Thames-side façade.

Funny how these things work; in its budget for 2008, for example, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Co Co has a budget of 200,000 euro for the removal of graffiti...

Sources : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7325950.stm ; http://londonist.com/2008/04/street_art_to_f.php

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