Thread by @danbarker

I went to the Marble Arch Mound today. It cost £2 million to build, and today was launch day, but it was still quite quiet.

Here is a short thread with info.

First, the original plan drawings and the marketing description do not quite match reality.

These plans never match reality, but it feels like they could probably clean the area up a bit.

It also seems the team who planned it perhaps designed it in Winter and forgot about the trees already in the area, which change the impression of it vs the plans.

I'd joked before that it cost 6p per step to climb it, as the 'fast track' price was £8.

That seems to have dropped to £6.50, meaning it is a more affordable 5p per step to climb the 130ish steps. (the marketing info describes this as an experience of the 'great outdoors')

Maybe it will get busy, but the idea of fast track tickets seems odd, as - even nearing sunset on launch day - it was very quiet.

I said before I thought it was odd they would do this. Marble Arch is a very famous landmark, why build a temporarily landmark overshadowing it?

Perhaps add lights to the Arch itself like Tate Britain if the idea is to increase footfall. But it seems odd to need something else.

The info trailing the 'mound' spoke of "a spectacular 25 metre tall viewpoint that gives visitors striking views over London and the park".

In fact you can't really see the park, as I presume it was designed in Winter, and Summer has filled the view with trees.

To be fair, there is a narrow gap in the trees where you can see a bit of the park, but the foreground is somewhat less pretty. And looking East to the park, rather than South, you overlook an odd area full of rubble. I suppose that could be described as "striking views".

The press info also said the deck would offer "360-degree views down Oxford Street and into the park".

Again, a tree obscures Oxford St (perhaps they thought it would be chopped down? It does not appear in the plans). Albeit you can see up the Edgware Road, constructed in 43AD.

And you can see down Park Lane, and toward the London Eye in the distance.

And actually the other way you can see the BT tower, behind the construction and the old hotels at that end of Oxford Street.

The viewing deck itself is basically like the top of a complicated scaffold, as that is what the entire Mound is built from.

There are some customer support people up there, in case you drop your phone down the scaffold perhaps, or to give you bits of info.

The marketing info describes the journey back from the top by saying 'visitors will descend into the heart of the Mound...'

That is one of the more interesting bits - basically the inside of a 25m enormous scaffold, dotted with a few trees.

I found it odd they didn't make more of the interior, but think they meant to - the info describes a 'hollowed out space that will be used as a café, shop and exhibition space'.

Instead you find an emptyish storage area.

Perhaps it is unfinished, hence all that rubble outside.

There's also apparently a light show of some sorts, also not there at the moment, which may explain some of the random cables scattered around.

All in all a strange experience compared to the sales pitch. I think they oversold it a bit, and they should update the website to downgrade expectations.

I know the price of scaffolding has shot up, & labour is harder to come by, so odds have risen against them, but still...

Marble Arch itself, originally designed by John Nash as an entrance arch to Buckingham Palace, could have been given some much needed attention, rather than literally overshadowing it with a pile of scaffolding.

In summary: I enjoyed it. More as you might enjoy a bad statue of Christiano Ronaldo, or a car park Santa's Grotto, with dogs pretending to be reindeer, than as a dazzling spectacle.

As long as you go with that expectation it is ok - just a shame it cost 2 million pounds.