Cabe hits out at Kapoor's £20m Olympic Orbit

The £19.1m Anish Kapoor-designed sculpture planned for the Olympic Park should not receive planning consent in its current form, according to the government’s design quango.

A design review ran by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment on August 2 concluded that the design for the London 2012 ArcelorMittal Orbit is “not yet resolved in sufficient detail” to win consent, with more detail needed of the design of the entrance pavilion and plant compound.

It said the designers should consider placing the entrance pavilion below ground, and that “from a pedestrian viewpoint at its base show these structures as currently laid out will compromise the experience of the Orbit as a sculpture.”

In addition it said the viewing platforms, lift, stairs and integration with the landscape of the Olympic Park all needed more work. In particular it said the downpipes needed to carry waste from the kitchens and toilets on the planned lower viewing platform could “downgrade the quality of the Orbit as an art work.” It added: “these details being submitted as part of the planning submission, we, and the planning authority, are being asked to take on trust that they will be elegantly resolved.”

Cabe said the project would become a unique addition to the Olympic Park and London’s skyline, as well as a lasting and visible symbol of the communities around the park for decades after the Games.

Ticket halls and visitor centres currently planned to surround the sculpture’s base