Commissioned to mark the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Millennium Dome was intended as a celebratory, emblematic and non-hierarchical structure that offered a vast, flexible space. The 100,000-square-metre (1.08 million-square-foot) adaptable space was suitable for the exhibition and performance events as well as any number of future uses. A high-profile project in its own right, the building also formed a key element of the masterplan by the Richard Rogers Partnership (RRP) for the future development of the entire Greenwich Peninsula.

The Dome attracted intense media coverage and generated more political and public debate than any other British building of the last 100 years. For RRP, the project was a resounding success – the building itself was remarkably inexpensive (£43 million for groundworks, perimeter wall, masts, cable-net structure and the roof fabric) and the Practice devised a non-adversarial procurement route involving standardised components that delivered the building within fifteen months and under budget. Its content, not the remit of the architects, was altogether less successful and was savaged by the press.

Mike Davies, RRP project director, and Gary Withers, of communications and design agency Imagination, together plotted the projection of the comets and stars, dawns and dusks onto the Dome’s surface prior to its detailed structural rationalisation. For Davies, an enthusiastic astronomer, the idea of time was critical during the building’s conception. The measurements of time – 12 hours, 12 months, and 12 constellations of the sky – are all integral to the original concept. The yellow support towers, of which there are 12, are intended to be perceived as great arms, out-stretched in celebration.

Designed in association with engineers Buro Happold, the key objectives for the structure were lightness, economy and speed of construction. The Dome is firmly rooted in the early work of the Practice, in particular the Fleetguard Factory (Brittany, 1979), the INMOS Microprocessor Factory (Newport, 1987), the Dome in the Royal Docks masterplan (London, 1986) and the Massy Autosalon (Massy, 1987) – all of which are assisted span structures.

The structure solved with great elegance the problem of how to enclose and protect the separate exhibition ‘zones’ from the vagaries of the British climate. Providing 100,000 square metres (1.08 million square feet) of enclosed space within a 2.2 million-cubic-metre (77.7 million-cubic-foot) volume, the structure is 365 metres (1,200 feet) in diameter, with a circumference of 1,000 metres (3,280 feet). The Dome, with a maximum height of 50 metres (164 feet), is suspended from a series of twelve 100-metre (328-foot) steel masts, held in place by more than 70 kilometres (43.5 miles) of high-strength steel cable that, in turn, support the Teflon-coated glass-fibre roof.

More than 6 million people visited the attraction during 2000. The inherent flexibility of the structure is such that it has since been used as a sporting venue for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Currently the Dome is an entertainment hub known as The O2 and features the 20,000 capacity O2 Arena – one of the world's most successful music venues – at its heart.