Currently, for most local people, the Olympia Venue in Hammersmith exists in the background as a large grey blob. The paint-job on the Art Deco frontage couldn’t be worse.  The only time local people notice Olympia is when it causes traffic chaos.

The new owners of Olympia plan to change all this. They want to open the site back up into its separate, listed, historic buildings.  They want to create public spaces within and around these lovely buildings over a 14 acre site.

What they plan sounds very good:

• Underground loading to take traffic off the street;
• Olympia Way pedestrianised – as per this picture;
• New public green space opening on to Blythe Road;
• A glass-topped roof terrace with restaurants and cafes;
• New indoor spaces including two hotels, theatre and cinema venues, community space, independent retailers, and new offices.

Look at it all here – scroll right down for the most important visuals.

The involvement of Thomas Heatherwick of Routemaster Bus and Olympia Flame fame should make us all feel glad.  Have a look at some of his other projects here

What could possibly go wrong?

My main concern is that treating the 14 acre site too much as a single “destination” with similar design themes could end up too much like a theme-park.   Too much cohesive good-taste piled too high could bite its own tail in the form of kitsch…..

Here are some things Olympia’s owners could do to avoid this.

1. Break the scheme into its constituent parts and settle these into the wider landscape

I’m worried that there is too much of a theme running through Olympia’s plans – being the curved Deco-like echo. Have a look at all the pictures to see this.

Olympia could consider breaking out the scheme into its separate parts and ensuring that each building is beautiful in its own terms.  Why should they all echo each other in an overly internally referential way?  Each building should make references to the wider architectural heritage not just to each other.

2. Design the whole thing for 30 years hence

We know that the original Olympia buildings will look fantastic in 30 years – because they do now – apart from the horrible paint job on the Deco frontage.   But what about the modern additions?  I have never seen a modern building that has aged well.  That is because they don’t seem to be able to settle into themselves.  They are made of stiff materials and they remain perpetually stiff and upright even as they get old.  They develop the quietly sad look of someone aging who is unable to let go of youth –  like Gustav von Aschenbach in Death in Venice.  This could be avoided if the architects specifically think about how the buildings will look in 30 and 100 years.  Here on the right is one of the buildings opposite Olympia.  What underlying principles helped this architect get it so right? Here is a picture of another building down the road from Olympia. What were the architect’s hopes for this building?  They at least could have built in grip holes for ivy.

3. Make sure there is plenty of space for local people

No community likes a large space at its heart which they perpetually walk around, not into.  The local community offering will be vital to give Olympia a beating heart.

My preference is for a local museum and arts and history hub.  I’ve joined class trips where children, parents, and teachers suffer for a day visiting the Science or Natural History Museum.  Nobody says but everybody knows that nobody learns anything.  It’s noisy and stressful and barely even pleasant.

There is so much history and art history locally – let’s create a space for it.  Having school kids coming and going from Olympia on a daily basis will really give it a beating heart.  As will providing a meeting place for all the older people, who generation after generation, work to preserve the things they have loved.

4.  Design in spaces for teenagers 

The great American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, said “A doctor can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only advise his client to plant vines“.

Perhaps when the owners of Windsor Plaza on Hammersmith Road bought this sculpture they already had the planting scheme in mind.

Unfortunately it’s a little more visible in winter.

No doubt it was put in place under one of those arrangements where a developer makes a public contribution as part of receiving permission for their development.

My feeling is that most people would prefer these contributions to be spent on more useable enhancements to our shared public spaces – seating or planting or play equipment – or fountains.

Purchasing art by Committee is a recipe for disaster – or let us be ready with the shrubbery and the vines.

When I was a Councillor in Avonmore & Brook Green I enjoyed doing “walkabouts” around the Lytton Estate with Council officers and local residents.  We always stopped to look at two derelict “green spaces” outside Burne Jones House.  These sit on the same side as the access stairs and all the residents’ front balconies and doorways.  They are the main green spaces that all residents in the block walk past day in day out, year in year out.

It is a pity then that these spaces remain derelict and uncared for year after year. In the picture shown one of the spaces is indeed green, but those are nettles that you see.  When we did the walkabouts nobody had any doubt that these spaces were within the remit of the gardening and site maintenance teams to care for.  Everyone agreed that something needed to be done.  We ticked boxes, made notes, and took actions.  Except that we collectively didn’t.  The gardens remain the same.

Other parts of the Lytton Estate are beautifully cared for.  But it’s not acceptable to cut corners and manage budgets by leaving this or that area out.  Particularly when they are as prominent as these little squares are for hundreds of residents.  Sure, after many years of neglect the soil is likely to be awful – and with the low railings the areas are a magnet for dogs.  Officers also said that sometimes, not too deep under these sorts of spots, you can find stony rubble.  A corner cut, many years ago.

Nevertheless the right answer is not to do nothing year after year. These spots need to be prioritised for some love and care. After all the walkabouts, notes, actions, and agreements, I thought we would have spring bulbs in 2018.  Could we make that 2019?

This sculpture stands in the grounds of Charing Cross hospital.  I walk past it most weeks and have always been impressed by its seemingly audacious meaninglessness.

My father died in Charing Cross hospital.  So did my beloved great aunt.  So when I walk through the grounds I’m usually thinking of them and the meaning of our life here on this earth.

That brings me to Shakespeare: