As a follow up to my previous post on the Vancouver Olympic Medal designs, I'd like to bring attention to the Olympic podiums used in the recent games. The Western Red Cedar and Douglas Fir wood was donated by the local community and milled locally as well.In previous Olympic games there has been very little design effort put into the podiums, as seen by the simple boxes of the 1950's..
(1956 Olympic podium)And the somewhat creative but still subtle podiums at the recent 2008 games...
(2008 Beijing Olympic podium)The Vancouver podiums by James Lee and Leo Obstbaum (who unfortunately passed away last year), there were 23 different models made in various sizes and shapes. The undulating wood forms hint at a digitally fabricated process of CNC milling. Its very exciting to see these new processes and technologies being used in such a high profile arena.
(assembly)
Taking it even one step further, custom trays to present the models were designed and fabricated in the same fashion.
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2 comments:
Great find - and I love the comparison of podiums past. It's very apparent that we're working with significantly more sophisticated geometries and tools today just by looking at the clunky designs of previous Olympics.
BEAUTIFUL!
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