World’s tallest and longest tunnel slide opens in London
Thrill seekers have a new place to get an adrenaline rush with the world’s
tallest and longest tunnel slide opening to the public at London’s ArcelorMittal
Orbit Tower on June 24.
Artist Carsten Höller -- developing on an initial proposal by Bblur Architecture
-- has designed the 178 m-long (584 ft) helter skelter slide. It’s the latest
intervention to the 115 meter-tall (377 ft) Orbit, conceived by Anish Kapoor for
the 2012 Olympics, following an abseiling attraction completed last year.
“Since 1999, I have built a number of slides, both free-standing and attached to
buildings, but never onto another artwork as in this case,” says Höller, who
installed a pair of spiralling slides at the Hayward Gallery for an exhibition
last summer.
“Now that the two artworks will be intertwined with each other, I see it as one
of these double situations that I am so interested in.”
The Orbit Tower slide will be made up of 30 sections -- 12 of which are now
complete -- and feature 12 turns, including a tight corkscrew twist. It starts
at a height of 74 meters and has a top speed of 15 miles per hour, taking 40
seconds to go down.
Tickets include access to the Orbit’s viewing platform.
London isn’t the only city expecting a helter skelter either, with plans afoot
for a glass slide 1,000 ft up Downtown LA’s US Bank Tower.
- CNN
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