The £1.3 billion reboot of London's Olympia exhibition centre is a dazzling spectacle, blending the historic with the futuristic. With a bank of staircases and escalators soaring upwards in an Aztec temple-style, the venue has been transformed into a city within a city. This ambitious project, led by Heatherwick Studio and SPPARC, has stripped away the grungy accretions and buffed up the core historic structures, adding shiny new implants. The result is a vibrant destination that offers a diverse range of amenities, from office space and restaurants to a conference centre, gym, and a 3,800-capacity music and events venue. The new additions bear the imprimatur of Thomas Heatherwick, who has a well-documented aversion to 'boring' architecture. The venue's Aztec-tinged revamp, topped with a crinkle-cut tiara, is a modern homage to its historic predecessors. However, the project has faced criticism for its lack of public access and the potential to become a soulless, logistically efficient, but drearily soulless space. Despite this, the newly engorged Olympia remains synonymous with spectacle, and in some ways, nothing has changed. The venue's history and drama of its architecture anchor it, and it continues to reign supreme for most of the 20th century. The project's scale and challenges, including the need to keep the venue open during construction, have led to some transformational changes, such as a new logistics centre and the reconfiguration of Olympia Way as a landscaped boulevard. However, the venue's core appeal as a hub for commerce and culture remains, and it continues to be a destination for a diverse range of events and activities.
