• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

2018: Wicker Man - General Discussion - SPOILERS! - Part One

Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
The station has gone vertical

WAjXCOe.jpg
 
With any luck the final product will leave all of that concrete exposed so that we get consistency with The Smiler...! :p

I know you are being sarcastic.

But Oblivion also has a lot of exposed concrete, so for The Smiler its a theming choice to make it look very industrial and partly in-keeping with Oblivion.

With this I really hope the earth is moved back up to cover the majority of the concrete as I expect a more wooden theme in keeping with Mutiny Bay.
 
.With this I really hope the earth is moved back up to cover the majority of the concrete as I expect a more wooden theme in keeping with Mutiny Bay.

There is a large mound of earth that has been left in the middle of the site, so hopefully they are saving it for spreading around to cover up most of the foundations :)
 
To be fair I'm sure that they will. They have already done a good job of hiding the footers at the top of the site.

:)
 
But Oblivion also has a lot of exposed concrete, so for The Smiler its a theming choice to make it look very industrial and partly in-keeping with Oblivion.
(Sorry you set off the architecture student in my brain!)

Interesting point, Oblivion's use of concrete is very well designed and was a key part of the theme. The design of the drop zone, and levels of the queue took a lot of effort and it really paid off. In fact other areas like the buildings around the queue aren't even real concrete, they were made to look that way for a particular style and a particular effect (although the effect has partly been removed & cladded in plastic).

Oblivion/X Sector got me so interested in retro architecture and there was a conscious design effort to reflect various (concrete based) modernist architectural styles to evoke the kinda Soviet, austere and curious theme.

However The Smiler's use of concrete was purely because of a big balls up with ground surveying (the queue and pit) and the cheap buildability factor of using precast, standardised concrete panels for the building. Why the concrete & blockwork was all left uncladded, even INSIDE in most places (awful), is a major cop out I think.

The "it suits the theme" idea was just an excuse for them to leave it looking that way, instead of designing something architectural with imagination & mystery like Oblivion (in its better days). I think it's terribly limiting, and the flaws will show up badly in a few years, if it doesn't make for a horrible and bland experience walking through the queue & building already!

Case in point, SW8's station is exactly the same precast concrete flat-pack box style, even though it's a totally different theme. Let's hope it is cladded somehow. There are always cost-effective ways to do a great theme, if a proper budget is given.

I think Merlin's use of architecture in all their projects is fundamentally poor. And I don't just mean style, I mean the basic shapes and layouts of their attractions are always so limited by their formulaic design. Especially Sub Terra, which needed a shipping container add-on to even have space for any kind of ending (this is a joke); Derren Brown's GT, where what could have been a great reveal of the train in the auditorium is only seen from awkward 90 degree angles, no sense of scale of level; or The Smiler's blocky, empty blockwork indoor scenes. A whole range of wasted opportunities.
 
Last edited:
I think Merlin's use of architecture in all their projects is fundamentally poor. And I don't just mean style, I mean the basic shapes and layouts of their attractions are always so limited by their formulaic design.

You'll absolutely love the Crooked Spoon Restaurant then (if you haven't already seen it). Absolutely the worst restaurant design and layout I've ever seen in the world. It's just a rentangular room with a load of tables squashed together, no walk way areas, which leads to a constant cause of frustration and anger among guests.

Merlin's designs for just about everything, completely and utterly suck. The new CBeebies Hotel design and layout is horriffic! I'm so pleased I will never have the displeasure of staying in it.
 
In addition Alton Towers neither have a good record with fire nor maintaining intricate theming elements so doesn't bode well if your "inside source" is right.
 
Status
This topic has been locked. No further replies can be posted.
Top