london 2012 – DesignApplause

London 2012 master planner lands leading role for rio 2016 olympic park.

Aug 26, 2012

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London-based AECOM has just been announced as the winning firm for the international competition held for the master plan design of Rio 2016 Olympic Park. The English firm is quite experienced in master plan’s for the Olympics as they were responsible for London’s 2012 Olympic Park Master Plan. The first international architecture competition held in the country, the jury chose the winning project by AECOM with chief architect Bill Hanway and Brazilian project author Daniel Gusmão, because of its unique concept of operation, separate access for athletes and the audience, logistics for the transport system, the viability of implementation and access for parking. In the legacy that the project will leave to the city, the highlights were environmental preservation and the viability of maintaining and preserving the lagoon.

There were three winning projects and the three honorable mentions: a Brazilian, an Australian and a Portuguese firm received the honorable mentions. As for the three winning projects, the third place went to the project signed by Portuguese architect Tomás Fernandes Almeida Salgado; the second, to architect Ron Turner, representing an American firm which was associated with the Brazilian firms CDC (Coutinho, Diegues and Lamb) and MPG (Miguel Pinto Guimarães ); the
winner was the English project.

“It’s a competition for the General Urban Plan. Soon, as announced by Mayor Eduardo Paes, the equipment that will compose the Park will be determined through specific architectural competitions in the next months,” says Sergio Magalhães, IAB/RJ president. Two scenarios were considered: the Olympic Games mode, which would ensure the best conditions for the performance of the sporting competitions, and the Legacy mode, which would ensure the viability of installing new, sustainable enterprises after the Olympics. The Olympic Park has an area of 1,18 million square meters and will host 15 Olympic and 11 Paralympics sports contests. In addition to the existing equipment – such as the Maria Lenk Aquatic Park, the Rio Arena and the Cycle Track -, the project includes the construction of temporary facilities (such as the hockey center, the tennis courts and the sponsors villa), permanent equipment (science and sports laboratory, athletic track, Olympic hall, media center and hotel, residential, commercial and leisure enterprises), and the preservation of the green areas system.

“The Olympic Park will be an urban development of international standard, which not only promotes the best in design, technology, sports and culture, but also satisfies intrinsic urgent and vital needs to its residents, businesses and the environment. Using our experience, we want to ensure that the investment and energy focused on the Barra neighborhood will promote the greatest possible benefit in the long term, “says Bill Hanway, an American who has been living in London for 14 years. He graduated from Washington University (St. Louis, MO), with a post-graduate degree from the School of Design at Harvard University. . In addition to the operational responsibilities for the global firm AECOM, Bill also provides the design leadership and management of multidisciplinary teams delivering projects in the UK, Continental Europe, the US and the Middle East. His UK work focuses on urban regeneration projects, spending the last five years on developing the London 2012 Olympic and Legacy master plan.

“Reconciling the needs of staging a global sporting event and of a successful and lasting new urban structure is a challenge that our three Master Plans propose to resolve by overcoming the large and small complexities of the Games, allowing a clear and practical approach for the project implementation. Our proposal is an Olympic park of international standard comprising permanent and temporary structures on which the new network of streets and squares of the future city will be located, “added the winner. [ aecom ]

Lasvit wins gold at london 2012.

Aug 17, 2012

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[ lasvit ] the leading designer and manufacturer of custom contemporary light fittings, feature glass art installations, and award-winning lighting collections was acknowledged for their design contributions to the interiors of the Czech House at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The Associated Press gave the “gold medal” to the Czech House for it’s “eccentricity” which stood out amongst the many National Hospitality Houses at the 2012 London games.

The Czech House, a transformed conference venue in north London’s Islington neighborhood, attracted up to 4,000 visitors a day to enjoy the hospitality and good vibes as well as to cheer on the Czech team. Lasvit, the official crystal partner of the Czech Olympic Team, installed “Infinity” an elegant lighting sculpture and “Hydrogene Bar,” an illuminated crystal bar lit by a series of LEDs. They were also commissioned to produce glass trophies as gifts for VIP guests and the best athletes at the 2012 Olympic Games. [ lasvit ]

In long run, consistency wins out.

Aug 7, 2012

In long run, consistency wins out: olympic decathlon champ dan o’brien. via mckinsey quarterly [RK]

London 2012 ratings soar. #nbcfail a non-issue.

Aug 6, 2012

london 2012 ratings soar. so much for #NBCfail via ad age [RK]

Olympic games celebrated by vipp.

Jul 31, 2012

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Vipp celebrates the Olympic Games with the ‘Re-United’ art bin by Chilean artist Mauricio Clavero.

vipp re-united

At the Olympic Games in London, the world is once again reunited. Chilean artist Mauricio Clavero has created the art piece ‘Re-United’ – a Vipp pedal bin covered with 90 national flags made out of Swarovski crystals. More than 70,000 crystals were used in the creation of the bin which symbolizes a world coming together.

Re-United is a part of “The Louvre Collection” – a collection of 36 unique works of art, made out of Vipp bins and soap dispensers with Swarovski crystals, previously installed at the Musée du Louvre. Nine Vipp soap dispensers depicting the metro systems of Tokyo, Paris, London, Copenhagen, Moscow, New York, Shanghai, Sao Paulo and Dehli with colorful crystals are also a part of ‘The Louvre Collection’. During the games, Vipp has reunited the four previous Annual Colors in green, red, blue and yellow together with black in an interpretation of the Olympic rings.

[ olympic exhibition ]
The Olympic art pieces from the Louvre Collection will be exhibited at Vipp Flagship Store in Copenhagen during the Olympics. Vipp Flagship Store |  Ny Østergade 34 DK-1100 | Copenhagen [ vipp ]

The timekeeper. Omega and the olympic games.

Jul 27, 2012

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The Swiss watchmaker Omega has been timing the Olympics officially since 1932. In 1936 the starting pistol fired blanks and the bang set of the electric timer. In 2008 and 2012 the starter’s pistol is the red e-gun. The
e-gun is perhaps a touch more accurate than the revolver, but its main advantage is that it’s un-gunlike. These days, getting timing equipment through security checks would be a logistical nightmare.

Starting blocks were first introduced at the 1948 games.

All of the events at the Los Angeles 1932 Olympic Games were timed by 30 chronograph stopwatches, compared with some 400 tons of equipment used today by the company’s 450 timekeepers.

The OMEGA Scan’O’Vision is a combination of a time detector and a chronograph. In fact, the familiar image of runners at the end of a 100-meter sprint flinging themselves across the finish line isn’t a photograph at all, at least not in the conventional sense. No shutter opens and closes to expose a film inside a camera. Instead, photo-finish images are produced using a high-tech image-capture device that records up to 2000 “scans” (digital images) per second. Each runner is captured by this timing and image-making device as he or she crosses the finish line, and each appears in the final “photograph” above a scale showing the time that has elapsed between the start and the finish of the race. Each scan represents a “slice” of time one two-thousandth of a second wide. [ details ]

[ omega ] [ london 2012 ] [ omega: highlights ] [ watch pro site ]

Artists selected and mascots revisited. London 2012.

Jul 15, 2011

the full list of commissioned artists is: Fiona Banner • Michael Craig-Martin • Martin Creed • Tracey Emin • Anthea Hamilton • Howard Hodgkin • Gary Hume • Sarah Morris • Chris Ofili • Bridget Riley • Bob and Roberta Smith • Rachel Whiteread

london (reuters) 7/2011 Twelve artists including Tracey Emin, Martin Creed and Chris Ofili will design a set of posters for the Olympic and Paralympic Games next summer, as Britain seeks to use the events to showcase its cultural heritage.

The nominated artists were chosen from a list of some 100, but organizers would not disclose how they came to their final decision.

Asked why Damien Hirst had not made the list, for example, Ruth Mackenzie, director of the Cultural Olympiad, replied: “I think the answer is, we’re not going to go there.”

Emin told reporters at an event at Tate Britain gallery, held exactly a year before the London 2012 Festival event gets underway, that she wanted her poster to be a celebration of life in the city.

“(I want to) show the world that London can really throw a party and that was what it was like with the royal wedding,” she said, referring to the recent marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton that attracted a huge global television audience.

“In times of depression, what came across as really, really cool was the arts. Arts and culture is the soul of the country,” she added. “I’m interested in the party scene, the celebration.”

For Michael Craig-Martin, also selected, artists had the advantage over graphic designers when it came to making posters for an event like the Olympics.

“Artists always bring something different, because you are bringing a personal language to it.”

He said that while art was not competitive like sport, even when a major award like the Turner Prize was announced, he did suffer from envy of other artists’ works, including Martin Creed.

“The minute I looked (at one of his recent works), I felt completely jealous that he had done it and I hadn’t.”

The London 2012 Festival, which is the culmination of the four-year Cultural Olympiad, will run for 12 weeks from June 21-September 9 and include events around the country.

Dozens of projects have already been announced, ranging from the countrywide Big Dance and The Reading Challenge to a production of Hector Berlioz’s “The Trojans” and pop star Damon Albarn’s contemporary opera “Dr. Dee.”

Something approaching a final list of events will be ready by October, Mackenzie said, as would details of the festival’s budget and private sponsors.

Some of the events have been specifically commissioned for the Olympiad climax while others have been held to coincide with the festival. [ Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato ]

while the much maligned logo has managed to win many over, it’s hard to say whether these strange metallic drips will manage to do the same. 5/2010

[ olympic mascots revisited via the import ]

the jagged emblem, based on the date 2012, comes in a series of shades of pink, blue, green and orange and will evolve in the run-up to the games | sabastian coe 6/2007

[ london logo worth every penny – the times | producer: london 2012 | logo designer: wolff olins ]

London 2012 olympic torch. BarberOsgerby.

Jun 8, 2011

This morning the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) unveils a prototype of the London 2012 Olympic Torch by designers BarberOsgerby.

Made from a golden aluminum alloy, the triangular torch will be perforated by 8,000 circular holes representing the 8,000 torch-bearers taking part in the Olympic relay and allowing glimpses of the burner system inside.

The 70-day Olympic Torch Relay, presented by Coca-Cola, Lloyds TSB and Samsung will take the Olympic Flame on an 8,000 mile journey across the UK next summer. From the start point of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay at Land’s End on 19 May 2012 an average of 110 people a day will take center stage by carrying the Olympic Flame on its journey around the UK before it arrives at the Olympic Stadium on 27 July 2012 for the lighting of the cauldron at the Opening Ceremony, signifying the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Earlier this year East London based designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby won the competitive tender run by LOCOG and the Design Council that set the brief to design a Torch that reflects the celebratory nature of the Olympic Torch Relay and the Olympic Games. BarberOsgerby will be working in partnership with Basildon based product engineers Tecosim and Coventry based manufacturers The Premier Group.

Sebastian Coe, Chair of LOCOG, said: ‘The Torch that carries the Olympic Flame during the Olympic Torch Relay is one of the most recognizable and significant symbols of an Olympic Games. Members of the public right across the UK are busy nominating inspiring people to be Torchbearers and I am thrilled we have a beautifully designed, engineered and crafted Torch for them to carry.

Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics, said: ‘This striking British design celebrates the role each of the 8,000 inspirational Torchbearers will play as local heroes in villages, towns and cities across the UK. The Torch is a focal point for every Olympic Games and London 2012 will be no different with the Torch Relay bringing the UK together as excitement builds ahead of the greatest sporting show on earth.’

Nicholas Serota, Director of the Tate and London 2012 Cultural Olympiad Board Member said: ‘Elegant, light and understated, the 2012 Olympic Torch shows the flair and confidence of contemporary British design and manufacture.’

Design: The Torch is made up of four key pieces – an inner and an outer aluminum alloy skin perforated by 8,000 circles that are held in place by a cast top piece and base.

Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, explained: ‘Ever since we were young we have loved the Olympic Games. As designers, this is quite simply the best project going: to design an icon for the Games. We’ve wanted to be involved since July 2005 when we were celebrating winning the bid with the rest of the UK. We have worked hard to develop a Torch that celebrates the Relay, and reflects the passion for London and the Olympic Games. We wanted to make the most of pioneering production technologies and to demonstrate the industrial excellence available in the UK – it’s a Torch for our time. This is our opportunity to represent the UK, in design terms, and we are incredibly proud to be doing so.’

The 8,000 circles run the length of the body of the Torch offering a unique level of transparency and will help ensure heat is quickly dissipated without being conducted down the handle. London 2012 Partner, BMW, have provided the use of their climatic testing facility for the Torch to be tested. More than half of the torchbearers are expected to be young people aged between 12 and 24, and this torch will be one of the lighter Olympic Torches.

Color: The gold color finish embraces the qualities of the Olympic Flame – the brightness and the warmth of the light that it shines. The 8,000 Torches will have a gold-colored finish that delivers an aesthetic beauty whilst having the ability to withstand the temperature of the Olympic Flame.

Height / weight: 800mm / 800g

Shape: The triangular form of the Torch design has been inspired by the identification of multiples of three that are found across the vision and delivery of the Olympic Games:
• The three Olympic values of respect, excellence and friendship;
• The three words that make the Olympic motto – faster, higher, stronger;
• The fact the UK has hosted the Olympic Games three times – in 1908, 1948 and 2012;
• The vision for the London 2012 Olympic Games to combine three strands of work – sport, education and culture.

90% of the 8,000 Torchbearer places will be made available to the public through a number of channels, including the four public nomination campaigns to be run by LOCOG and the three Presenting Partners. The LOCOG ‘Moment to Shine’ public nomination campaign aims to find 2,012 inspirational members of the public to carry the Olympic Flame who have gone beyond their personal best. [ Nominate your Torchbearer ]. There will be further opportunities to get involved via the Presenting Partner programs that launch in June 2011.