LONDON | 2012 Olympics Park Development News

[Sexas]

Originally Posted by DarJoLe

The bigger point though is Londoners won't accept any of the newly built Olympic venues becoming white elephants for any length of time. The press will be out for blood if after the Games the permanent venues haven't found a private owner or tenant.

The Labour Government were burned incredibly badly by the fiasco over the Millennium Dome, and it took six years for it to finally be turned into a profit making venue, and there is no-one in the UK who will accept that length of time paying for the upkeep of an Olympic venue.

However the Olympic organisers are looking at spending 2010-2012 to find private investors to take over ownership of the downsized stadium, aquatic centre and velopark. With the other venues temporary, London will hopefully have no white elephants for any length of time after the Games.

DarJoLe I totally see your point, and the Millennium Dome is just bad from the start. But if you plan ahead...it is possible to avoid white elephants. Like the Chinese, if you go check out the Chinese venues, a lot of them are inside a university, After the game it will become university's own gymnasium. Two will stay as nation's stadium and aquatic center, one will turn back to convention center, all other left is those shooting range, beach ball court, tennis court, baseball park and a rowing-canoe park... it won't be any white elephants.

[marrio415]

Originally Posted by somataki

So Beijing Athens had to show off?? Anyone knows that Athens is the historic capital of Europe and has an incredible history and monuments, anyone knows how glorious and historic city Beijing is as well. The cities that host the OG have nothing to proove to the world, are already famous and world wide known. And exactly because everyone all over the globe knows what London is like, that's why everyone expected a state of art design for the main olympic stadium..

there was nothing state of the art about Atlanta,Sydney or athens stadiums.It's about the quality of the sport i.e the athletes they are the ones who determine the games and also the spectators.

[Zenith]

Originally Posted by mbuildings

stunning

Indeed, Indeed. You are straight to the point, and yet wonderfully descriptive. There are just so many levels on which this post works. Keep them coming please.

[Mr. Met]

I heard that London wants to make this the "greenest" olympics to date.

[lesart]

Asking this question 3 years down the road after London won the 2012 bid might be a little bit redundant, but I simply can't help it. Why bother having the games if U are not willing to bear the cost and make so much noise about it?

Olympic has never been a modest affair in the past, nor that it will ever be in the future. No matter how u sugar-coat it, there is nothing "sustainable" about spending billions of dollar for an essentially, a 10-day circus (not when millions in Africa and Asia still live in abject poverty). So my point is, since London is already bounded by contractual obligation to host the games, might as well make a great statement out of it. Show the world that London too can be at the forefront of design and architecture. After all, this is the home of architectural luminaries such as Zaha Hadid, Norman Fosters and Richard Rogers.

At this moment, it seems that the British authority and Londoners are so eager to downgrade, downsize and downplay the importance of this great event. Cities like Beijing and Barcelona already sets the precedent and expectation of how olympic should looks and feels like. If London give anything less than that, then the London games will be remembered for all the wrong reason.

[GreenwichSE10]

im sure it will be ok..we are spending about £5 billion on it..its hardly scrimping si it?

[Mr. Met]

[Guatemala1000%]

This logo means London, different in shapes, colors and cultures, it is an unforgetable...
Is it really true that the make of this logo is worth 400,000 pounds? I heard that most of the Londoners were angry/upset by this.[/QUOTE]

[DarJoLe]

Originally Posted by Guatemala1000%

Is it really true that the make of this logo is worth 400,000 pounds? I heard that most of the Londoners were angry/upset by this.

The £400,000 was for the entire cost of the design for the brand of London 2012, as in the logos, fonts, design and entire rebranding of the old London 2012 bid design. That's pretty good value for the amount of work done by the branding company, but most Londoners don't understand how the design world works and consider that a lot of money, even though other companies have been rebranded costing much much more money.

Also many complained it was a waste of their tax money, even though the rebranding was paid for by LOCOG, whose budget comes from private sponsors and not the public taxes, which is what the ODA have to deal with.

There was a big backlash against the London Olympics which they still haven't recovered from, I still try to this day wonder why it was such a backlash over a logo, considering how successful it has been in attracting sponsors and shows it is an incredibly interesting and adaptable as well as memorable logo over the last six months. I guess it's because the Brits still don't really understand what this Olympic Games is trying to achieve in the long run.

[potiz81]

Originally Posted by DarJoLe

That's pretty good value for the amount of work done by the branding company

[DarJoLe]

No, it really is. As someone who works in a branding agency I should know how much it costs for a company to be rebranded.

[potiz81]

I don't doubt for the work in generall. But for this ugly and pointless logo, the amount of £400,000 is sourrealistic.

[DarJoLe]

image hosted on flickr

[jak3m]

woop!

[www.sercan.de]

Can't we move this one to the Sports Arena section?

[TallBox]

Originally Posted by DarJoLe

There was a big backlash against the London Olympics which they still haven't recovered from, I still try to this day wonder why it was such a backlash over a logo, considering how successful it has been in attracting sponsors and shows it is an incredibly interesting and adaptable as well as memorable logo over the last six months. I guess it's because the Brits still don't really understand what this Olympic Games is trying to achieve in the long run.

This is utterly condescending. You don't need to have a HND in Design or whatever to be able to tell whether a brand/logo looks good or not. Unfortunately, the brand designers seem to think that only Starbucks-sipping Islington bohemes are the only ones worth pandering to by designing a logo that most Londoners will dislike. I guess it makes them feel more enlightened than everybody else.

[Flogging Molly]

Darjole you dont half talk some crap! I was involved in advertising. Something that simple does not cost £400,000. If they appointed a single company to work on a logo it would've cost no more the £10,00 to design something.

[jak3m]

i disagree.

they designed the whole london 2012 brand, if your in advertising you should know how big of a deal that is. £400,000 is a decent price for a new worldwide brand which will be seen by billions of spectators. It may look like a simple logo, but the whole brand design is not simple.
http://www.wolffolins.com/london2012.php just look on that link and see how the brand is going to be used. And for people who complain about the logo itself:
It did not asked to be liked, already it has been a very successful logo in how much talk and publicity it has achieved. This is what the logo means: "Our Games will be for everyone."
"Our emblem is simple, distinct, bold and buzzing with energy.
Its form is inclusive yet consistent and has incredible flexibility to encourage access and participation.
It can communicate with anyone from commercial organisations to kids playing sport.". Hopefully we'll never see a rubbish "paint stroke" logo again after 2012. this brand is memorable and modern.

[tonkster]

What was your involvement, flog mol? The guy who makes the coffee?

[jak3m]

Originally Posted by tonkster

What was your involvement, flog mol? The guy who makes the coffee?

lmao!