Roof of Richard Rogers’ Millennium Dome blown off in Storm Eunice

The high-tech Millennium Dome in London, which was designed by British architect Richard Rogers, has been severely damaged in Storm Eunice.

A large section of the fabric roof of the building in Greenwich, which is now known as The O2, has been pulled off by the storm, exposing the inside of the venue.

Videos and images shared on social media show six panels of the PTFE-coated glass fibre fabric roof ripped away from the building as the damage continues to spread.

https://twitter.com/BJFHubbard/status/1494660067848773632

The 50-metre-high dome in east London is one of the city’s most recognised landmarks. Opened in 1999, it was built to house an exhibition celebrating the beginning of the new millennium called the Millennium Experience.

Effectively a giant tent, the fabric roof is supported by 12 bright yellow towers that rise 100 metres above the structure.

Following the Millennium Experience exhibition closing, the building was converted by architecture studio Populous into the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena.

In 2013 Rogers’ studio Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners returned to the project to create the Up at the O2 attraction. The studio collaborated with Bblur Architecture to add a fabric walkway to the outside of the dome’s roof that allows visitors to reach a viewing platform at the top.

Designed by British architect Rogers, who recently passed away, the building is a key example of the high-tech architecture style. Rogers was a pioneer of the movement that took advantage of the structural potential of modern materials and often, as at the Millennium Dome, had exposed colourful structure.

In a video interview republished by Dezeen after his death, Rogers said that architects should try to “leave the city more beautiful than when we entered”.

The top image is by Zakgollop, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

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