Lakshmi Mittal, whose ArcellorMittal global company donated most of the funding to build the sculpture, has stated in public that there is no place for the ceremonial flame on top of the Orbit.
Obviously the newly iconic tower which dominates nearly all backdrops in media coverage live from the Olympic Park is going to play a big role in the ceremony, and quite possibly the fireworks at the end, but no further details should be released until after the event on Friday 27th July.
The press have been told they can’t access the red tower at all this week due to games organizers preparations, so you can make of that what you will.
The Olympic Cauldron in Sydney 2008
This is what the real Olympic Cauldron at London 2012, not on the Orbit Tower, actually looked like in the middle of the Olympic Stadium:
The Olympic Cauldron London 2012
The cauldron was assembled during the opening ceremony by a process which involved each of the competing nations’ teams bring a single copper petal to the centre where they were each individually attached to a horizontal rod. They were then all raised to a vertical position, converging to create the Olympic Flame.
Thomas Heatherwick, designer of the London 2012 cauldron said:
When we were thinking about the cauldron, we were aware they had been getting bigger, higher, fatter as each Olympics had happened. We felt we shouldn’t try to be bigger.
The idea is that, at the end of the Games, this cauldron will dismantle itself and come back to the ground. Each of those elements will be taken back by each of the nations and put in their national Olympics cabinets. Everyone has got a piece.
Can you see the cauldron flame inside the Olympic Stadium from the Orbit Tower?
People are wondering if they climb the Orbit Tower will they be able to look into the Olympic Stadium and see the flames of the cauldron, and the answer I’m afraid is no. With the cauldron now in final position for the games, the stadium seating obscures the view from the orbit. From the top of the Orbit tower however, you can peer across to the finish line in the Olympic Stadium athletics track, and all across London.
Hetherwick Cauldron Exhibition
Models of the Thomas Hetherwick Cauldron sculpture are on currently exhibition at the V & A (Victoria & Albert) Museum at Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL, tube: South Kensington
Designing The Extraordinary a solo exhibition featuring Heatherwick Studio one of the most inventive and experimental British design studios practising today – open until 30th September 2012.
Model of the Hetherwick Olympic Cauldron at the V&A
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