Editing Millennium Dome (section)

== Architecture ==
[[File:UK Londen Millennium Dome 20040921 30701.jpg|thumb|left|The dome, seen from above]]
[[File:The O2 Arena viewed from a cable car.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The dome, seen from the [[London Cable Car]], with [[Canary Wharf]] in the background.]]

The dome is one of the largest of its type in the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Millennium_Dome|title=Millennium Dome - Designing Buildings Wiki|website=www.designingbuildings.co.uk|access-date=2 October 2017}}</ref> Externally, it appears as a large white [[Tent#Marquees and larger tents|marquee]] with twelve {{convert|100|metre|ft|adj=mid|-high}} yellow support towers, one for each month of the year, or each hour of the clock face, representing the role played by [[Greenwich Mean Time]]. In plan view it is circular, {{convert|365|m|ft|-1}} ({{convert|1|m|in|spell=in|disp=or}} for each day in a standard year) in diameter.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|title=Millennium Dome|url=https://www.burohappold.com/projects/millennium-dome/|access-date=12 April 2021|website=Buro Happold}}</ref> It has become one of the United Kingdom's most recognisable landmarks, and can be easily identified on satellite images of London. 

The architect was [[Richard Rogers]] and the contractor was a joint venture company, McAlpine/Laing Joint Venture (MLJV) formed between [[Sir Robert McAlpine]] and Laing Management.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/archive/millennium-dome-site-in-44m-work-bonanza-28-05-1998/ |title=Millennium Dome site in £44m work bonanza |work=Construction News |date=28 May 1998 |access-date=19 February 2022}}</ref> The building structure was engineered by [[Buro Happold]], and the entire roof structure weighs less than the air contained within the building.<ref name=":0" /> Although referred to as a [[dome]] it is "not a dome in the structural sense [...] In this building, a dome-shaped cable network is supported on a ring of [...] masts".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.architectureweek.com/2003/0326/building_1-2.html |title=Long span structures |work=Architecture Week |date=26 March 2003 |first=Angus J. |last=Macdonald |access-date=5 April 2006 |archive-date=2 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170502142718/http://www.architectureweek.com/2003/0326/building_1-2.html |url-status=dead }} Excerpt from ''Structure and Architecture'' (2nd ed.), Architectural Press, 2001</ref> It has been disparagingly referred to as the Millennium Tent.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letter-millennium-tent-1258034.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220514/https://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letter-millennium-tent-1258034.html |archive-date=14 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|work=Letters to The Independent|title=Letter: Millennium Tent |date=26 June 1997 |access-date=29 June 2009 |first=Louis |last=Hellman |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmhansrd/vo001113/debtext/01113-31.htm |work=Commons Hansard Debates |title=House of Commons Hansard Debates 13 November 2000 |date=13 November 2000 |access-date=29 June 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/jun/24/dome.architecture |work=The Observer |title=Stephen Bayley on the rebirth of the Millennium Dome |date=24 June 2007 |access-date=29 June 2009 |location=London}}</ref>

The canopy is {{convert|52|m|ft|-1}} high in the middle – {{convert|1|m|ft|spell=in}} for each week of the year<ref name=":0" /> and is made of durable and weather-resistant [[Polytetrafluoroethylene|PTFE]]-coated [[glass fibre]] fabric panels (original plans to use PVC-coated polyester [[cloth|fabric]] were dropped after protest led by [[Greenpeace]]<ref name="Hakimian">{{cite magazine |last1=Hakimian |first1=Rob |title=Millennium Dome roof shredded as Storm Eunice rips through the UK |url=https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/millennium-dome-roof-shredded-as-storm-eunice-rips-through-the-uk-18-02-2022/ |magazine=New Civil Engineer |access-date=19 February 2022 |date=18 February 2022}}</ref>), with each of the 72 segments containing two panels.<ref name="ET">{{cite web |title=Millennium Dome |url=http://www.engineering-timelines.com/scripts/engineeringItem.asp?id=73 |website=Engineering Timelines |access-date=19 February 2022}}</ref> Its symmetry is interrupted by a hole through which a ventilation shaft from the [[Blackwall Tunnel]] rises. Six segments were destroyed during [[Storm Eunice]] on 18 February 2022.<ref name="Hakimian"/>

Built in 15 months, the dome structure was delivered under budget, at a cost of £43m.<ref>{{cite web|title=Millennium Dome|url=https://www.burohappold.com/projects/millennium-dome/|access-date=26 April 2021|website=Buro Happold}}</ref>

The critic [[Jonathan Meades]] has scathingly referred to the Millennium Dome as a "Museum of Toxic Waste",<ref>{{cite web |title=In praise of … Jonathan Meades |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/29/jonathan-meades |website=The Guardian |date=29 January 2013 |access-date=16 June 2022}}</ref> and apart from the dome itself, the project included the [[Land reclamation|reclamation]] of the entire Greenwich Peninsula. The land was previously derelict and contaminated by toxic sludge from [[East Greenwich Gas Works]] that operated from 1889 to 1985. The clean-up operation was seen by the then [[Deputy Prime Minister]] [[Michael Heseltine]] as an investment that would add a large area of useful land to the crowded capital.