Skylon (Festival of Britain)
skylon futuristiclooking slender vertical cigarshaped steel tensegrity structure located thames london gave illusion floating ground built festival britain popular joke period like british economy visible mean support skylon vertical feature abiding symbol festival britain designed hidalgo moya philip powell felix samuely fabricated painter brother hereford england london south bank westminster bridge hungerford bridge skylon consisted steel latticework frame pointed end supported cable slung three steel beam partially constructed skylon rigged vertically grew taller situ architect design made structurally feasible engineer felix samuely time lecturer architectural association school architecture bedford square bloomsbury base nearly metre foot ground top nearly metre foot high frame clad aluminium louvre lit within night question asked parliament regarding danger visitor lightningstrikes skylon paper reported duly roped one point anticipation forecast thunderstorm name form skylon likely referenced trylon feature new york world fair name suggested mr g fidler wife chief architect crawley development corporation moya wrote unimpressed first soon came accept combining suggestion pylon sky nylon fascinating new material wonderfully descriptive name lasted forty year considerably longer structure day king queen visited exhibition may skylon climbed midnight philip gurdon student birkbeck college attached university london air squadron scarf near top police constable frederick hick sent retrieve scarf following morning spite popularity public £ cost dismantling reerecting skylon elsewhere equivalent £ deemed much government struggling postwar austerity skylon removed rest exhibition dismantled order winston churchill saw festival architectural structure symbol preceding labour government vision new socialist britain speculation skylons fate included theory jude kelly artistic director southbank centre thrown river lea east london dumped thames buried jubilee garden made souvenir sold scrap base preserved museum london wind cup held private collection investigation carried front row programme bbc radio result broadcast march revealed skylon roof dome discovery sold george cohen son company scrap metal dealer wood lane hammersmith dismantled work bidder street canning town bank river lea metal fragment made series commemorative paperknife artefact inscription paperknife read made aluminium alloy roof sheet covered dome discovery festival britain south bank dome skylon building site dismantled george cohen son company ltd six month former location skylon riverside promenade london eye hungerford bridge alongside jubilee garden former site dome discovery may dd london formerly conran restaurant opened new restaurant named skylon third floor royal festival hall restaurant previously named people palace dome discovery skylon spacecraft blawknox tower article time medium related skylon london wikimedia common skylon spire may return london skyline guardian skylon museum london colour photo skylon