Hasta La Ideas

Here are some photos of a scale model of the London 2012 Olympic Cauldron designed by Thomas Heatherwick, which has now been added to the ongoing exhibition of his work at the V&A museum, plus drawings from the designer.

Unveiled as the climax of the opening ceremony on Friday, the cauldron comprises 204 copper petals that were carried into the stadium by competing teams and assembled on radiating poles, before bring raised in concentric waves to meet as one flame. After the games the cauldron will be dismantled and each competing country will take home one of the petals. Read more about the design in our earlier story.

“Nothing has been harder than designing for the Olympics,” says Heatherwick, who sent us the drawings below. “It is the most public moment one can ever be involved in. I am humbled and excited, and above all very proud to have played a part in this significant moment for Great Britain.”

A prototype of one of the petals, made of copper, aluminium and steel, is also included in the Heatherwick Studio: Designing the Extraordinary exhibition, which continues until 30 September.

The Cauldron was the star of the show on Friday night but has since been criticised for its position inside the stadium, hidden from most of the Olympic Park, and had to be extinguished on Sunday night so it could be moved aside for this week’s sport.

Watch Heatherwick talk more about the commission in our movie filmed at the opening of the exhibition here or below.

See all our stories about the London 2012 Olympics »
See all our stories about Thomas Heatherwick »

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Thomas Heatherwick: model and drawings appeared first on Dezeen.

Our Dezeen Olympics continue as we award medals to the design and architecture of the London 2012 games. Today it’s the three most commented stories and the runaway gold medallist is the ArcelorMittal Orbit by Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond (above), with over 300 passionate comments.

The silver medal winners are the mascots for the games Wenlock and Mandeville by iris (above) with over 50 polarised opinions from our readers.

Taking the bronze is the London 2012 Olympic Cauldron by Thomas Heatherwick (above), which received a lot of praise when it was unveiled at the opening ceremony but is now causing controversy as it is only visible inside the stadium. Watch Heatherwick talk about his design in an interview we filmed with him here.

Look out for the next set of winners tomorrow!

You can see all our coverage of London 2012 Olympic design here.

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Olympic designs appeared first on Dezeen.

The London 2012 Olympics are well underway and every day this week we’ll award medals to design and architecture created for the games, starting with the three most popular stories. The Olympic Torch by BarberOsgerby takes the gold, with over 40,000 pageviews. Watch BarberOsgerby talk about their design in our movie interview here.

The silver medal goes to the Olympic Stadium (above) with over 38,000 pageviews. You can explore all the buildings in the Olympic Park in our interactive aerial photo here.

Coming in third with a bronze medal is a motorway floating on the River Thames (above) to ease congestion in the city, cunningly unveiled on 1 April with almost 30,000 pageviews.

That’s it for today – we’ll be back tomorrow with another round of medallists!

Meanwhile see all our coverage of London 2012 Olympic design here.

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Olympic designs appeared first on Dezeen.

London based graphic designer Sarah Hyndman has completed her year-long project photographs objects arranged in groups of five to look like the Olympic rings (+ movie).

In the run up to the games, Hyndman photographed objects such as fruit, sunglasses and telephones and posted them to her blog once a day.

Now the project has finished, the images have been compiled into a movie (above) to showcase the idea in it’s entirety.

Some of the images related to the time of year they were taken, with chocolate pennies at Christmas and Love Heart sweets on Valentine’s Day.

We previously featured a story about Hyndman’s alternative Olympic posters for the games that were creating using some of the photos.

See all our stories about the London 2012 Olympics »

Here is some more information from Sarah Hyndman:

For a year Sarah Hyndman has been remaking the Olympic rings logo out of everyday objects to celebrate the countdown to the start of the Olympics in London. It was a small, lighthearted idea that paid quiet homage to the power of a well designed logo. The resulting blog has caught imaginations, been blogged, tweeted and featured around the world, and has been viewed in 120 countries in the last 30 days.

After a year of daily remakes, 366 logos (it’s a leap year), the culmination is a movie which shows all the images as they progress through the 12 months, the seasons, holidays and the events that have marked out the year.

Sarah explains that her highlight was when Barnes Primary School created the images that hosted the blog for a month, tying in with the announcement that the 2012 game’s motto is ‘inspire a generation’. “The children asked me questions which I responded to by filming my answers for them. They put a lot of thought and enthusiasm into the project and their logos came complete with clever captions which really made me up my game. I love the photo where’ they’re lying on the ground smiling and waving in the formation of the five rings (day 233).”

Having plundered the every day objects around her extensively, Sarah turned to taking inspiration from events such as Wimbledon, key dates such as Valentines (the day after features broken Loveheart sweets with the caption “it’s complicated”), and taking on tweeted challenges such as Mandy’s request for a logo relating to National Transplant Week (the result is on day 350). The blog has received contributions from people who have, like Sarah, started to see Olympic rings in their everyday lives demonstrating the pervasiveness of the 100 year old icon.

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by Sarah Hyndman appeared first on Dezeen.

The 2012 Olympic games begin today and this latticed timber hut on stilts by Hackney architects Studio Weave now marks the direct route from the City of London to the Olympic Park.

The temporary installation is positioned at the start of High Street 2012, a ribbon of streets that lead directly from Aldgate, east London, to the main site of the games in Stratford.

Named Paleys upon Pilers, or palace on pillars, the wooden folly was inspired by the dream-like temples described in two poems written by historic Aldgate resident Geoffrey Chaucer.

The structure will remain in place throughout the summer.

Studio Weave’s project was constructed in place of the 100 metre-tall glass elevator that won a competition for the site back in 2010 but was abandoned when funding couldn’t be raised.

See more stories about Studio Weave »
See more stories about London 2012 »

Photography is by Studio Weave.

Here’s some information from the architects:

Paleys upon Pilers celebrates Aldgate’s distinguished resident Geoffrey Chaucer

To mark the location of the historic Aldgate – where Chaucer lived from 1374-1386 – an intricate timber ‘paleys upon pilers’ (palace on pillars) has been commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects as its contribution to the games celebrations.

The installation secured temporary Planning Permission on Friday May 4th, will officially open on Friday the 27th July 2012 and will remain in place throughout the summer.

Created by the young, award-winning architects, Studio Weave, the construction will also mark the start of High Street 2012, the direct route from the City of London to the games site at Stratford.


The New Aldgate is supported by the City Property Advisory Team (CPAT) and eight other Worshipful livery Companies and will be built from sustainable British Larch supplied by BSW Timber and is sponsored by 4C Hotels Ltd.

Sir Michael Bear, former Lord Mayor of London and President of the London Festival of Architecture says “As a ward member for the area I am delighted that this elegant structure will provide a focus and identity for this area which is undergoing major regeneration.”

Peter Murray, founder director of the London Festival of Architecture and Court assistant to the Worshipful company of Chartered Architects says “This is a delightfully evocative design that brings a contemporary clarity to the eastern fringe of the Square Mile. The old Aldgate was designed to keep people out; Studio Weave’s design welcomes visitors from around the world who will be visiting London this summer.”

Studio Weave: Project description

A gate stood at Aldgate from the Roman Period until 1761. From 1374 to 1386 Chaucer (1343-1400) lived in the rooms above the Aldgate.

Our design is inspired by the two dream poems written by Chaucer while resident in the rooms above the gate from 1374 to 1386. ‘The House of Fame’ and ‘The Parliament of Fowls’ both include images of fantastic dream-like temples of impossible materials and scale, elevated on precarious, precious structures above vast, bizarre landscapes conceivable as analogies for the City.

Paleys upon Pilers is an abstraction of the uppermost room of the old gate and an invocation of Chaucer’s luxurious dreamed temples. The structure consists of a kind of timber embroidery and will sit in the air above the busy Aldgate High Street, supported on pillars decorated with images from Chaucer’s illuminated manuscripts.

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by Studio Weave appeared first on Dezeen.