5th Apr 2008

A Colourful Rooftop Reveal

We were commissioned by Martin Heap of Innovision to provide a reveal of the London 2012 logo colours on the roof of the 02 Arena as part of the Beijing torch relay ceremonies in London.

This consisted of 10 banners each of an area of 1,000m2, which needed to be deployed in thirty seconds, to give the impression of the logo appearing as if by magic on the O2 arena. The project timeline was incredibly tight; from first discussing the project through to the actual reveal only allowed us 28 days. This was further complicated by the fact the O2 Arena roof is a fabric structure and only 0.8mm thick and very susceptible to damage unlike the buildings we normally work with. Equally the O2 Arena had to remain open throughout the installation process.

We had to build a prototype and install it with only two weeks to go to satisfy the O2 authorities of both our integrity and the proposed installations integrity. This test was a success and we received permission to go ahead with the complete scheme. Even with this incredibly tight timeline we achieved the installation. It was touch and go on reveal day however, due to the fact that it snowed. This meant we couldn't preset the reveal until 2 hours before the ceremony due to the dangers of working on the snow covered roof. However, the reveal did go ahead smoothly to the satisfaction of all concerned.