Construction has begun on the Hackney Ikea Warehouse new media centre for the Olympics. During the games, the 84,000 sqm shed will accommodate over 20,000 media folk.
And boy, is it a goat's arse of a building. Can you believe we're paying a third of a billion pounds for this beauty? After cost reductions? That's almost three times what the Gherkin cost to build. The mind boggles.
If, like the architects, we leave aesthetics aside, the media centre does have laudable features. After the games, it will serve as a local business centre, (hopefully) attracting small media firms and creating a 'new Soho' in Hackney Wick. Meanwhile, the massive roof will be covered in gravel and moss to 'encourage invertebrates'. If only there was some joke to link those last two sentences together.
