Eleanor Harris: An Eye On British Airways i360

A Future Icon

Bold, new, tall structures have a history of attracting controversy before they win the hearts of all locals. When Gustave Eiffel first proposed a massive iron tower for the 1889 World Fair, it attracted criticism: some did not think the tower was feasible and others objected to its aesthetics.
Artists protested: “we protest with all our strength, with all our indignation in the name of slighted French taste, against the erection… of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower… the hateful shadow of the hateful column of bolted sheet metal.”
Many of the protestors changed their minds when the tower was built, although Guy de Maupassant reputedly ate lunch in the Tower’s restaurant every day because he said it was the one place in Paris where one could not see the structure.
Today, the Eiffel Tower is considered an architectural wonder; it has become the most iconic and defining image of Paris gracing our screens on film and TV, and it is one of the most popular paid tourist attractions in the world.

The London Eye too had a similar reaction when first proposed. Dubbed the ‘wheel of misfortune’, critics were horrified at the idea of a modern Ferris wheel opposite the Houses of Parliament, but all that changed as soon as the Eye opened to the public in 2000 and became the success story of the millennium.
The Daily Telegraph wrote, “those who caught a first glimpse of what the Eye can see were held in awe.” The Evening Standard’s Rowan Moore did a public u-turn along with mayor Ken Livingstone. Within two years, the Eye became the UK’s most visited paid attraction (it still is 15 years on) and had gained permanent planning.
Who can now imagine Paris without the Eiffel Tower or our capital without the London Eye? The i360 will be here for all of our lifetimes and many future generations. I hope that the slim, elegant, futuristic tower will become an icon for 21st century Brighton and Hove, and that history will repeat itself, and the sceptics will fall in love with the structure and the beautiful views from it.
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YouTube channel: Brighton i360