Inside the 2012 Olympic Velodrome

velodrome

On the day before the completion of the construction phase of London’s new 6,000-seat velodrome on the 2012 Olympic site, we are treated to a sneak peek. Mike Taylor of Hopkins Architects presents the design vision and explains how he hopes it will not only be fast but environmentally sustainable and a great place to go and watch elite track racing. Mike argues that the threatened outdoor track at Herne Hill (which hosted the Olympics in 1948) is a vital ‘feeder track’ for the new Olympic facility.

Many London cyclists will know that the 2012 Velopark (velodrome, BMX track and road circuit) is being built on the site of the much-loved Eastway cycle circuit. A short film captures the final Tuesday night Ten Mile Time Trial before the circuit was demolished to make way for the 2012 Olympics.

Flickr set Velodrome pics (Creative Commons license!) here.

Un Tour de France de Londres with Stephen Bayley

DSC_0560As part of this year’s London Festival of Architecture, Stephen Bayley leads a ride around the best of French architecture, art and design to be found on the streets of London. Stephen Bayley is the Observer’s architecture and design critic, the founding director of the Design Museum and in 1989 was a made a Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France’s top artistic honour.

If you’re interested in my drinking guide for this year’s Tour De France, it’s here.

Photo credit: Rebecca Stephens

Lock it or lose it

anthony-lau

Talking bicycle security with author and blogger Rob Ainsley and Anthony Lau, architect and designer of the excellent Cycle Hoop that cheaply converts street furniture into cycle racks. Anthony is also soon to unveil a new car-shaped bicycle storage rack (pictured, above) at the London Festival of Architecture. Rob gives his verdict on the new double-decker bicycle storage racks at Waterloo Station.

A Journey Into Tranquility

Sustrans is the sustainable transportation charity and lobby group that pioneered the national cycle network. It is also one of the UK’s biggest commissioners of public art. Today’s show is devoted to one of Sustrans’s new Prospectives series, a handful of deliberately experimental projects that are more conceptual and investigative in nature than the more traditional kinds of public art you might find on the National Cycle Network.

AuditoryLisener_s

Entitled Tranquility is a State of Mind, the project was conceived and led by Liminal, the duo of architect Frances Crow and sound artist and composer David Prior. They brought together clinical audiology, computational neuroscience and acoustics in a quest to understand more about the relationship between our sonic environment and personal wellbeing.

The 2010 London Festival of Architecture features around 20 bicycle tours, including a Sonic London ride led by Jack Thurston.

Cycle Super-MyWays

Boris Johnson is London’s first cycling Mayor and he has put a ‘cycling revolution’ at the heart of his programme of government. As well as the Cycle Hire Scheme, Mayor Johnson has announced plans for what he has dubbed ‘cycle superhighways’. There will be twelve superhighways, each offering “safe, fast, direct routes to central London from the outer boroughs”. But there are growing concerns that the plans are being watered down. Continue reading

6 October 2008: The Moulton Story (part two)

The concluding episode of a two-part feature on the story of Dr Alex Moulton and the reinvention of the bicycle. We pick up the story with the launch of the Moulton space frame design (pictured left) in the early eighties. Featuring interviews with eaturing interviews with Dr Alex Moulton, Shaun Moulton, Tony Hadland, Michael Woolf, Paul Villiers, George Coulouris, Jean Dollimore, Chris Mahon, Patrick Doocey and Mog from Brixton Cycles.

Play on links below. Other file formats (Ogg Vorbis, 64kb MP3) over here.

Continue reading

14 July 2008: Vive Le Tour // Civilised Streets

Celebrating Bastille Day and the first week of Le Tour De France plus a discussion of civilised streets with Louise Duggan, streets advisor at the UK’s Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE). Just six days until this year’s Dunwich Dynamo….

Play on links below. Other file formats (e.g. Ogg Vorbis) over here.