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

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The station has gone vertical

WAjXCOe.jpg
 
Rob said:
With any luck the final product will leave all of that concrete exposed so that we get consistency with The Smiler...! :p
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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.
 
jon81uk said:
.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.
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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.

:)
 
jon81uk said:
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.
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(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.
 
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electricBill said:
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.
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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.
 
Alastair said:
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.
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But they've only had a few minor fires... I don't see what could possibly go wrong!
 
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