Take a ride on the world’s tallest and longest tunnel slide
Updated 24th June 2016


It weaves around the 115 meter-tall (377 ft) Orbit Tower in London. Credit: Courtesy The Spaces
Written by Tomo Taka, The Spaces
This article was originally published by The Spaces, a digital publication exploring new ways to live and work.
Thrill seekers in England have a new place to get an adrenaline rush with the world’s tallest and longest tunnel slide opening to the public at London’s ArcelorMittal Orbit Tower on June 24.
Artist Carsten Höller — developing on an initial proposal by Bblur Architecture — has designed the 178 m-long (584 ft) helter skelter slide. It’s the latest intervention to the 115 meter-tall (377 ft) Orbit, conceived by Anish Kapoor for the 2012 Olympics, following an abseiling attraction completed last year.

"Since 1999, I have built a number of slides, both free-standing and attached to buildings, but never onto another artwork as in this case," says Höller, who installed a pair of spiraling slides at the Hayward Gallery for an exhibition last summer.

"Now that the two artworks will be intertwined with each other, I see it as one of these double situations that I am so interested in."
The Orbit Tower slide will be made up of 30 sections — 12 of which are now complete — and feature 12 turns, including a tight corkscrew twist. It starts at a height of 74 meters and has a top speed of 15 miles per hour, taking 40 seconds to go down.

Tickets for the attraction cost £15 ($22) and include access to the Orbit’s viewing platform.
London isn’t the only city expecting a helter skelter either, with plans afoot for a glass slide 1,000 ft up Downtown LA’s US Bank Tower.
Head to The Spaces for more architectural wonders from around the world.