It hasn't helped Olympia's growth over the last 30 odd years, that the station next door (Kensington Olympia) is a substantially smaller one than it once was originally. This coupled with newer, more modern exhibition centres opening up in other parts of London. It station used to have four through platforms and two bay (terminating) platforms - one on each side. Two of the through platforms were removed, and one of the terminating bay platforms; the one that was used for the long defunct 'Motorail' - before the days of Eurostar and Le Shuttle. It was British Rail's main London terminus for Motorail. So Kensington Olympia was both a bigger and busier station than it is today. It also had its own signal box (long since removed). British Rail (BR) sold off part of the station for redevelopment in the mid 90's - after the demise of Motorail....as Eurostar and Le Shuttle had made it (Motorail) obsolete. So the station was scaled back as it was deemed too big. The signal box went (as a newer larger control centre had opened elsewhere) and some of the platforms were sold to a developer. Today, housing stands where some of the former platforms once were. Itll be interesting to see whether the new revamped Olympia is a success. And if it is - whether the smaller station we see today, will be able to cope with large volumes of visitors to the exhibition centre.
The bigger issue for the exhibition side was cutting district line services from Earls Court. On the plus side the new improved overground line is good.
Well, Londoners HAD seen something as big and impressive as this before…The Crystal Palace, at its original location in Hyde Park, and then the move and enlarging to Sydenham.
As a local, I'm totally biased and gunning for the revamp to succeed. It might be worth doing another video when the project has been completed - how seemless will the merging of contemporary style be with Olympia's Victorian heritage? If anyone can pull this off, Heatherwick should be able to. One wonders if there'll be sufficient demand for the auditorium, theatre and cinema spaces. (The revamp was planned pre-Covid even if it started in 2021). The heart of London seems to have shifted Eastwards - will this project be sufficiently appealing to buck the trend? Restoring a regular underground service to Olympia (this currently only runs to tie in with special events) is an absolute must. One dreads a soulless, corporate atmosphere - there's enough of that in London already. One hopes steps are taken to attract retail and restaurants that reflect the wide range of European and Middle Eastern nationalities present in our borough (Hammersmith and Fulham).
Tony as a local I agree with you that we all want it to succeed. However Heatherwick isn't a qualified architect and it shows. His inability to think in terms of large scale planning is very much in evidence. Sadly no one on his team has helped him to do so. A neighbour who has had 30+ years experience in leading huge property developments thinks they've screwed it up by not allowing enough public space, i.e. gardens/plazas etc.
I live about 50ft from it,and my main concern is the amount of people turning up at the same time to visit the difference shows that run at the same time. Im not seeing much transport upgrades. There is some car parking in the old motorrail site.I have a residential parking permit,but non residential cars have only 2hrs max....thank goodness. The previous multistory carpark at Olympia has now been converted into a private school.
Great video. You raised the issue of access but didn’t say how this would be improved. It’s interesting, I’ve been to Olympia multiple times and, as a person hugely interested in the history of architecture and engineering, never really noticed its construction. I didn’t realise it is quite as old as it is.
I live 6 minutes walk away. The 15 storey height of the office space building dwarfs everything else in the vicinity, none of which is higher than 5 storeys. 12,000,000 visitors/year with one fewer access road will be interesting. With the previous iteration & its car parks, people using the exhibition centre still preferred to park in local streets because it was cheaper. Residents don’t have exclusive parking bays atm btw.
Didn't know it was still around. Fond memories of visiting it. From a schoolboy visiting it for The Schoolboys Exhibition in the late 50s. The Racing Car Exhibition and The Motorcycle Exhibition in the 60s and oh yes! Being DRAGED there by my fiance for The Ideal Home Exhibition 🥱. Is Earle's Court Exhibition Hall still around? (I have moved from London)
Frayed knot, that's gone the way of all things too. Completely, in its case. The treasure chest of the cost of land in Earls Court was simply too much to ignore for the new owners and so it's being turned into the usual over-hyped "exclusive luxury boutique select..." development of flats, houses and stashed away in one corner, the requisite block of flats for shared ownership/affordable social housing. As they call it. Plans and elevations look pretty, but no more will we see for instance the International Boat Show causing the main arena to be filled with water as if by magic. Excel centre took on that rôle some years ago now anyway and to be fair, it made alot of sense. Even though it took away the "We are the masters of all we survey" magnificence of how far we've come that the sheer madness of the Earls Court Shows capabilities showed.
Significantly, this video says nothing about how to get there: about transportation, public transport or parking a car! It's quite a long walk from West Kensington station and Olympia station is a poor service since the District Line link was terminated.
This was a perfect chance to follow what Madrid has done with new buildings and opportunities to change the physical layout of buildings. This has given no opening to `greening the area ', This building resembled a giant greenhouse, it should be festooned in plants to `oxygenate the area', and cool it down, the amount of glass being used is going to cause even more light pollution when the lights are on making the whole place `glow' in the dark from above. It is very disappointing to me that a company with Heatherwick attached having produced some amazing work in the past, should let this site be such a let down regarding the `greening ' of a space. The air conditioning will take so much energy to keep the place cool, it is worrying that we are still accepting such designs in this day and age.....and it seems that no-one has upgraded the access from transport to be able to get the 1,000`s of people here for the planned shows!...unfortunately, I foresee a `White elephant.'
Excellent video, interesting and informative, and you didn’t feel the need to patronise the American viewers by converting the cost of the project into dollars, B1M could learn a lot from this I hope he watches it
I live close by. It's a very poorly designed mishmash of styles and far too tall, overbearing the local level houses. It should never have received planning permission.
7:32 I don't mean to belittle the standard over egging of the pudding which, forgive this first time visitor to your channel, you seem to be repeating judging by the subtle change in your presentation style. My point being that if the trumpeted rooftop views are quite as stunning as the development team is endeavouring to drum into us, why not show them? (Nighttime views alone 10:37 always ring alarm bells for me raising the question, what are they trying to hide there?) Maybe there are legal reasons to do with privacy or other such unforeseen issues which this uninformed interested bystander knows nothing of, but it surely can't be a problem with accessing the acres of solid Victorian roof structure. Perhaps it had more to do with my suspicion that even the apex of the glorious arches of iron and glass is not high enough to see over the taller of the existing mansion blocks, before you take into consideration the rash of recently erected blocks of flats over the tracks on the Kensington side. I hope to be proven wrong. Even if they plonk the public bar areas atop the office blocks (which won't be a selling point for future office tenants), I picture the only satisfactory sightlines will be South West and North because of the modern developments in the way on the other points of the compass. Whilst I'm having a go, typical current practise for the "starchitects" of today shown here (9:07) in the homage to the original glazing that is the "pleated glass canopies." As my mother would often say when dad showed her the latest project he was starting on; yes, nice, but how are they going to change the lightbulb there/clean up there? &c. There's a good deal of common sense and consideration given to housekeeping missing from these otherwise superbly crafted next-level projects we're spoiled with these days. Little thought appears to have been given to the consequences of such beautiful designs. How are the maintenance crew going to be able to keep all those impractical valleys fundamental to the very existence of the pleats free from dirt, dust and of course in the autumn season of the year, leaves? Leave alone the inbuilt necessity to get up there too frequently for comfort (or cost benefit ratios) if truth be told for the building management's annual maintenance budget.
You mean 1851? When Crystal Palace first opened as 'The Great Exhibition' in Hyde Park. By 1955 it had been gone for 19 years. It tragically burnt down in 1936. It wasn't arson, but thought to be an accident.
Another yuppy play ground I’m Hammersmith born and bred it will not be any useful me,also no sign of improvements to the station easier access from Hammersmith road ti the station and buses instead a long walk to the entrance to catch a train ,and outdoor escalators first heavy rail they will fuse ,the overall design is rubbish Bern kinder to pull the whole lot down and street again had a burn and bred west Londoner I have the right to say this yuppies go away
Not sure what you're on about; you can only use what material is available, so it's much than using nothing. Try making your own video and see if you can do any better.
It hasn't helped Olympia's growth over the last 30 odd years, that the station next door (Kensington Olympia) is a substantially smaller one than it once was originally. This coupled with newer, more modern exhibition centres opening up in other parts of London.
It station used to have four through platforms and two bay (terminating) platforms - one on each side. Two of the through platforms were removed, and one of the terminating bay platforms; the one that was used for the long defunct 'Motorail' - before the days of Eurostar and Le Shuttle. It was British Rail's main London terminus for Motorail.
So Kensington Olympia was both a bigger and busier station than it is today. It also had its own signal box (long since removed).
British Rail (BR) sold off part of the station for redevelopment in the mid 90's - after the demise of Motorail....as Eurostar and Le Shuttle had made it (Motorail) obsolete.
So the station was scaled back as it was deemed too big. The signal box went (as a newer larger control centre had opened elsewhere) and some of the platforms were sold to a developer.
Today, housing stands where some of the former platforms once were.
Itll be interesting to see whether the new revamped Olympia is a success. And if it is - whether the smaller station we see today, will be able to cope with large volumes of visitors to the exhibition centre.
The bigger issue for the exhibition side was cutting district line services from Earls Court. On the plus side the new improved overground line is good.
Well, Londoners HAD seen something as big and impressive as this before…The Crystal Palace, at its original location in Hyde Park, and then the move and enlarging to Sydenham.
I remember going to various shows and exhibitions during the late 1950s :)
As a local, I'm totally biased and gunning for the revamp to succeed. It might be worth doing another video when the project has been completed - how seemless will the merging of contemporary style be with Olympia's Victorian heritage? If anyone can pull this off, Heatherwick should be able to. One wonders if there'll be sufficient demand for the auditorium, theatre and cinema spaces. (The revamp was planned pre-Covid even if it started in 2021).
The heart of London seems to have shifted Eastwards - will this project be sufficiently appealing to buck the trend? Restoring a regular underground service to Olympia (this currently only runs to tie in with special events) is an absolute must.
One dreads a soulless, corporate atmosphere - there's enough of that in London already. One hopes steps are taken to attract retail and restaurants that reflect the wide range of European and Middle Eastern nationalities present in our borough (Hammersmith and Fulham).
Thanks for your insight. A follow up video is a good idea!
Tony as a local I agree with you that we all want it to succeed. However Heatherwick isn't a qualified architect and it shows. His inability to think in terms of large scale planning is very much in evidence. Sadly no one on his team has helped him to do so. A neighbour who has had 30+ years experience in leading huge property developments thinks they've screwed it up by not allowing enough public space, i.e. gardens/plazas etc.
Excellent overview of the project.
Thanks for watching!
I live about 50ft from it,and my main concern is the amount of people turning up at the same time to visit the difference shows that run at the same time.
Im not seeing much transport upgrades.
There is some car parking in the old motorrail site.I have a residential parking permit,but non residential cars have only 2hrs max....thank goodness.
The previous multistory carpark at Olympia has now been converted into a private school.
Great video. You raised the issue of access but didn’t say how this would be improved. It’s interesting, I’ve been to Olympia multiple times and, as a person hugely interested in the history of architecture and engineering, never really noticed its construction. I didn’t realise it is quite as old as it is.
Thanks for watching! Yeah good point. I should have mentioned how access could have been improved.
sounds fantastic
I live 6 minutes walk away. The 15 storey height of the office space building dwarfs everything else in the vicinity, none of which is higher than 5 storeys. 12,000,000 visitors/year with one fewer access road will be interesting. With the previous iteration & its car parks, people using the exhibition centre still preferred to park in local streets because it was cheaper. Residents don’t have exclusive parking bays atm btw.
Good video
Thanks for watching!
Didn't know it was still around. Fond memories of visiting it. From a schoolboy visiting it for The Schoolboys Exhibition in the late 50s. The Racing Car Exhibition and The Motorcycle Exhibition in the 60s and oh yes! Being DRAGED there by my fiance for The Ideal Home Exhibition 🥱. Is Earle's Court Exhibition Hall still around? (I have moved from London)
Frayed knot, that's gone the way of all things too. Completely, in its case. The treasure chest of the cost of land in Earls Court was simply too much to ignore for the new owners and so it's being turned into the usual over-hyped "exclusive luxury boutique select..." development of flats, houses and stashed away in one corner, the requisite block of flats for shared ownership/affordable social housing. As they call it.
Plans and elevations look pretty, but no more will we see for instance the International Boat Show causing the main arena to be filled with water as if by magic. Excel centre took on that rôle some years ago now anyway and to be fair, it made alot of sense. Even though it took away the "We are the masters of all we survey" magnificence of how far we've come that the sheer madness of the Earls Court Shows capabilities showed.
Unfortunately Earl's Court was demolished a few years ago following some dodgy deals with developers.
❤❤
Wow!!!!
im sorry, but excel london does not have a pretty design. and what exactly is the use of dull glass office towers when office space is on its way out?
Significantly, this video says nothing about how to get there: about transportation, public transport or parking a car! It's quite a long walk from West Kensington station and Olympia station is a poor service since the District Line link was terminated.
Not worth watching AI images until it’s finished. Nothing ever looks like it’s architectural drawings.
This was a perfect chance to follow what Madrid has done with new buildings and opportunities to change the physical layout of buildings. This has given no opening to `greening the area ', This building resembled a giant greenhouse, it should be festooned in plants to `oxygenate the area', and cool it down, the amount of glass being used is going to cause even more light pollution when the lights are on making the whole place `glow' in the dark from above. It is very disappointing to me that a company with Heatherwick attached having produced some amazing work in the past, should let this site be such a let down regarding the `greening ' of a space. The air conditioning will take so much energy to keep the place cool, it is worrying that we are still accepting such designs in this day and age.....and it seems that no-one has upgraded the access from transport to be able to get the 1,000`s of people here for the planned shows!...unfortunately, I foresee a `White elephant.'
I hope it works out. That’s a lot of money to turn the space into something trying to be all things to all people.
Excellent video, interesting and informative, and you didn’t feel the need to patronise the American viewers by converting the cost of the project into dollars, B1M could learn a lot from this I hope he watches it
Thanks for watching and the very kind comment!
While some of the new construction seems edgy, seems to me it’s a throwback to the 60’s and 70’s and this won’t age well.
A business hub far away from the business centre? Ok. If you say so.
I live close by. It's a very poorly designed mishmash of styles and far too tall, overbearing the local level houses. It should never have received planning permission.
Thanks for watching and the insight!
My thoughts exactly...both concept and esthetic seem a bit dated, and it's not even finished.
But the residents around there obj3ct to anything.
What else could they have done? And I'm yet to see any building project which is favoured by local residents.
7:32 I don't mean to belittle the standard over egging of the pudding which, forgive this first time visitor to your channel, you seem to be repeating judging by the subtle change in your presentation style.
My point being that if the trumpeted rooftop views are quite as stunning as the development team is endeavouring to drum into us, why not show them? (Nighttime views alone 10:37 always ring alarm bells for me raising the question, what are they trying to hide there?)
Maybe there are legal reasons to do with privacy or other such unforeseen issues which this uninformed interested bystander knows nothing of, but it surely can't be a problem with accessing the acres of solid Victorian roof structure.
Perhaps it had more to do with my suspicion that even the apex of the glorious arches of iron and glass is not high enough to see over the taller of the existing mansion blocks, before you take into consideration the rash of recently erected blocks of flats over the tracks on the Kensington side. I hope to be proven wrong. Even if they plonk the public bar areas atop the office blocks (which won't be a selling point for future office tenants), I picture the only satisfactory sightlines will be South West and North because of the modern developments in the way on the other points of the compass.
Whilst I'm having a go, typical current practise for the "starchitects" of today shown here (9:07) in the homage to the original glazing that is the "pleated glass canopies." As my mother would often say when dad showed her the latest project he was starting on; yes, nice, but how are they going to change the lightbulb there/clean up there? &c.
There's a good deal of common sense and consideration given to housekeeping missing from these otherwise superbly crafted next-level projects we're spoiled with these days. Little thought appears to have been given to the consequences of such beautiful designs. How are the maintenance crew going to be able to keep all those impractical valleys fundamental to the very existence of the pleats free from dirt, dust and of course in the autumn season of the year, leaves? Leave alone the inbuilt necessity to get up there too frequently for comfort (or cost benefit ratios) if truth be told for the building management's annual maintenance budget.
Facilities and property management would be an ongoing cycle of cost and repair to keep all of this going.
What about Crystal Palace of 1955?
1855
1851. It was built in under a year!
You mean 1851? When Crystal Palace first opened as 'The Great Exhibition' in Hyde Park. By 1955 it had been gone for 19 years. It tragically burnt down in 1936. It wasn't arson, but thought to be an accident.
Another yuppy play ground I’m Hammersmith born and bred it will not be any useful me,also no sign of improvements to the station easier access from Hammersmith road ti the station and buses instead a long walk to the entrance to catch a train ,and outdoor escalators first heavy rail they will fuse ,the overall design is rubbish Bern kinder to pull the whole lot down and street again had a burn and bred west Londoner I have the right to say this yuppies go away
There's plenty of born and bred Hammersmith yuppies who it will be of no use to either. Crap is design is crap design.
what hapens when bent developers want to put up shit buildings and a foreign meme voice over praises garbage
Usual rubbish modern gimmicky architecture with a video so far from reality that it is laughable.
Adding vintage film graphics to static photos comes off as amateurish. Stick to the narrative and facts, which you do quite well.
Thanks for the feedback
Not sure what you're on about; you can only use what material is available, so it's much than using nothing. Try making your own video and see if you can do any better.
And there speaks an amateur. 🙄😖
Oooooh! Here speaks Steven Spielberg. 🥱
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