Flying High on the London Eye

Not all of London 's great tourist spots are old and historic. Actually, one of the most often visited British landmarks is the famous London Eye, which is the world's tallest Ferris wheel, clocking in at over 440 feet tall.

Although it's not a good idea for anyone afraid of heights, almost everyone will be in absolute awe of the amazing, unobstructed view. The London Eye is also a modern engineering marvel, the construction of which was the largest and most precariously planned undertaking ever on the Thames.

Prior to 2000, a contest was publicized for architects to design a new London landmark structure to commemorate the beginning of the new millennium. Husband and wife architects David Marks and Julia Barfield drafted the first sketches of their simple but gargantuan design on their kitchen table in South London in 1993. No one was actually awarded first place because the competition was scrapped, but Marks and Barfield were compelled to make their dream a reality, somehow.

David and Julia decided that the only way for their idea to come to fruition was to get the press involved in order to find support. The more attention that the idea got, the more the architects were determined that their idea would be one of the most impressive structures ever undertaken. David Marks remarked that everyone was inspired "to create an exciting new way to see and understand one of the greatest cities on earth."

Construction began in 1998, and in only 16 months the London Eye was ready to be presented to the public.

It is the largest observation wheel ever built and the only cantilevered structure of its kind in the world. The process was highly complicated because of the transportation and execution of the design - it's the largest structure ever hoisted into a vertical position in only one operation. The completion of the wheel took the combined effort of over 1700 people in five countries, primarily because there were not any established ways of creating the components necessary to build it. The capsules themselves posed fabrication challenges to double-curve and laminate the glass. Moving all of the materials and individual pieces that were fabricated elsewhere was a risky business because the delivery would have to be timed to co-ordinate with tides in the River Thames in order to have sufficient clearances under London 's bridges . The world's tallest floating cranes lifted the massive components that floated in on temporary platforms, and the 32 passenger cars had to adhere to strict size parameters in order to fit on French roads that they had to travel to get to the English Channel.

The London Eye has become one of the most spectacular and popular attractions in the world, with visitors arriving from all over the globe. It has had such success that it unquestionably beats all other paid London attractions. Such an undertaking began only as a nascent idea, and became one of the largest and most impressive feats of engineering in the world.

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