THE SKYLON
Designed by Philip Powell and Hildalgo Moya
Assisted by Felix Samuely and James Gowan
The Skylon - A Vertical Feature in steel and aluminium. On River Walk by the Lake of Fountains......
South Bank Exhibition Guide 1951
Relegated in the official guidebook to a brief mention in the 'New Sculpture, Painting and Design' section, the futuristic 'Skylon' grew to become the symbol most associated with the Festival. Even now, over 50 years on, when the Festival of Britain is mentioned the words 'Skylon' or 'Dome' spring most readily to people's mind.
The design resulted from a competition, one of only two features on the SouthBank to be chosen in this way. The brief given to would-be designers pointed them in the direction of either a 'completely abstract design or one that related to the overall theme of the exhibition'. It could also be three-dimensional, or be made of water, gas, balloons or coloured lights. The scope was endless, imagination , together with cost and technical ability, were the only constraints.

The final winner, Powell and Moya's 'Skylon' was chosen from over 150 entries and proved to be an entertaining and thought provoking icon. Unfortunately, as with most of the SouthBank it disappeared for scrap during the orgy of destruction in 1952. 		{short description of image}
{short description of image} Although the Skylon gave the appearance of being a tubular shape it had a 12 sided body consisting of 12ft braced steel panels covered in satin finished aluminium louvres. When bolted together on site the whole pencil like structure measured 250ft high.

The suspension system that was to become the key to the success of the design was worked out by Felix Samuely who managed to support the 28 ton body on only nine guying cables. As can be seen from the picture (left) the support base was formed of three supports held outward at the top by three double guying cables which passed over them and were connected to the base of the Skylon which was suspended nearly 50ft off the ground. With the base now steady it was possible to keep the body upright by using one further guying cable per support leg attached to a reinforced band about half way up the body. All of the guying cables were attached to solid anchorage points sunk into the ground 70ft from the centre of the base.

Internally the Skylon was illuminated with tungsten lamps so it would glow at night - the relatively dark surround disguising the guy ropes and giving the appearance that the body was floating in mid air. During the day the aluminium panels reflected the available light with the louvres giving an almost shimmering effect.

During construction the base of the body was supported by a prop whilst the body was built from the ground up. When it was completed the prop was removed leaving the guying cables to take the weight.
skylon and dome skylon at night
As well as the design resulting from an open competition the name was chosen likewise. A call was put out for suggestions as to a name for this new 'vertical feature' and the winner was a lady by the name of Mrs. Sheppard-Fiddler whose husband was an architect working on the development of the post-war new towns who would eventually go on to become Birmingham City Architect. She is reported to have combined the idea of sky hooks and nylon to get to Skylon. The former as it appeared as if that is what was suspending the 'vertical feature', and the latter because it was new and modern.
The Skylon's main contractors were Hereford steel fabrication firm Painter Brothers and British Insulated Callenders Cables who agreed to sponsor the £7,000 overspend on construction in return for having their name on the circular plate that was set into the ground directly under the main body. Visitors could stand on this spot and look upwards through the inside of the Skylon, although in thunderstorms the area around the Skylon was cordoned off to prevent the possibility of it acting like a giant lightning conductor and frying the unfortunate visitor who got in the lightnings passage to earth.

Every now and again a project is announced to restore the Skylon to the SouthBank, many of which slide beneath the waves and are never heard of again.. At present there is a scheme in discussion that could go further than most, and with the redevelopment of the SouthBank well under way perhaps now is as good a time as ever. Even Painter Brothers have expressed interest in being part of any future development.
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