London Stadium Plan Misses Mark on Context

One of London's major soccer teams is floating plans to rebuild its stadium. But with its location in one of the city's most impoverished sections, many say the new plan doesn't do enough for its neighborhood.

1 minute read

February 12, 2010, 5:00 AM PST

By Nate Berg


"[W]hen Tottenham Hotspur propose a new 58,000-seat stadium, rising to 42 metres high, as well as 450 flats, a hotel and a supermarket to help pay for it, worlds collide.

Power meets poverty, and the silvery disc of the arena descends like a UFO, whooshing pubs and shops and the odd listed building into oblivion. It is as pure a symbol of the relative might of club and borough as you could wish for.

Except Spurs are not having it all their own way. The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) has pronounced itself 'disappointed' with the project and 'does not support it'."

Rowan Moore argues that the plans don't take enough consideration of their surroundings.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010 in London Evening Standard

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