Superstructure

Inspired by a global event, the Dome at Greenwich has been a British construction project of unprecedented ambition, a building site where records have routinely been broken, an engineering feat of mind-boggling statistics. Superstructure is a remarkable record of the Dome’s genesis up to the day it was opened to the public, 1 January 2000. The photographer Mark Power was granted privileged access to the site by the New Millennium Experience Company. He first visited the North Greenwich peninsula in October 1996, and in well over one hundred subsequent trips recorded its progress. The Dome he portrays is a monument to human endeavour, a challenge of epic proportions realised against overwhelming odds, a place where colossal architectural components and brutal machinery have been tamed and harnessed through highly choreographed teamwork. His photographs are deliberately devoid of people – feeling that it would be inappropriate to focus on the role of individuals, he instead pays homage to the team spirit that has driven the project.