The New Aldgate is a temporary entrance and landmark to the City of London in celebration of the 2012 Olympics. The historic site is the location of the Aldgate entrance of the era of London as a walled city 250 years earlier. The Aldgate was the only entrance to the City of London that was open to all. Thus the contemporary site of the 2012 Aldgate landmark and pavilion resonates with a spirit of openness befitting the mission of the Olympic events.

The Aldgate 2012 Pavilion, serves as a symbolic greeting hall, a light filled, multicoloured, transparent surface that creates a momentary envelope for the celebration of the 2012 Olympics and a spatial marker of London’s archeology of social exchange. The Aldgate 2012 Pavilion addresses the city as a multilayered set of possibilities that constitute an urban theater. As an architectural celebration of the 2012 Olympics, the structure is vibrant and porous yet asserts a sense of place and provides for a variety of possible events. Readings, music and gatherings are accommodated in the large room with a unique cylindrical inverted crown that suggests an intimate space of performance and social exchange. The pavilion proposes a cross section of formal and informal social exchange that attracts and binds the activities of the urban neighborhood as a whole.