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It took a lot of work on the ground
by Stageco to launch the snowboarders of Nokia Air & Style into
the sky at the Olympiastadion, Munich, this December.
The world-renowned snowboarding competition, which has showcased the
cream of the world’s snow and skate-boarding talent since 1993,
required a spectacular structure to propel the participating stars
into the air.
The Innsbruck-based co-organisers Blue Wings commissioned Stageco
Germany to design and build the enormous ramp.
According to Christoph Schulz, of Stageco Germany’s
R&D department, “The designer from Blue Wings gave
me a rough sketch of the ramp’s profile and landing. These gave
me the right gradient, curve and lines. I used AutoCAD to achieve
his specifications as closely as possible. We built the ramp for the
first time in 2005, when it took two months to design and plan. This
year it took about four weeks.”
For Schulz the challenge lay not only in the design of the ramp but
in ensuring the unusual load-bearing qualities of the surface could
be achieved with conventional materials.
“You’re
not working with a flat platform but creating something different,”
he says. “The ramp carries different loads from staging platforms.
In addition we had to work with standard materials including scaffolding,
and ensure we had the complete set of components to send on site.”
Without Stageco even top snowboarders like Hampus Mosesson and Mathieu
Crepel could never have reached the heights that they did in Munich,
and 27,500 spectators certainly would have had to crane their necks. |
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Jobs come in all shapes and sizes
for Stageco Germany and one of the most intriguing challenges of the
year was the presentation stand it designed for the Dell Formula BMW
World Final, Valencia, in November 2006.
The competition is a vital seedbed for the F1 stars of the future
and, last year, the 17 year old German driver Christian Vietoris stormed
past the chequered flag ahead of 35 competitors to take the prize.
The elegant structure built by Stageco was designed to showcase the
winning car of the championship. The 15 metre-long, six metre high
exhibit was designed to evoke a race track descending from above.
Showcased on the “artistically transformed tarmac” was
the type of Formula BMW Vietoris was driving.
“This
was an unusual job,” says Stageco Germany’s managing director
Werner Herbst. “As a custom-made project for the client,
we had a lot of fun brainstorming the design. It keeps us young!”
The company was working with Dell and BMW’s agency, ECS in Munich,
which proposed the basic idea. “The challenge was to create
something very small and thin, in order to make it light and transportable,”
says Werner. “We came up with a modular design that meant it
can be used at other events.”
Given his current racing form it seems likely Stageco will be supporting
the young Vietoris for many years to come.
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Seeing in the New Year in Berlin
became especially significant after the fall of the Berlin Wall in
1989. These days the country’s New Year or “Silvester”
celebrations focus on the city as a symbol of new national unity.
Major streets around the Brandenburg Gate are sealed off to become
a concert venue by the organisers Silvester in Berlin (SIB) GmbH and
Wohlthat Entertainment. No surprise, then, that they turned to Stageco
Germany to provide a spectacular mainstage, plus a host of ancillary
structures such as video support, meeting points and VIP areas.
“The client has known our company for a long time,”
says project leader Sebastian Kraas. “They understand our methods
and equipment and know we can turn their ideas into reality.”
For Sebastian the key challenge was planning the rigging loads for
the mainstage to support the elegant ring design proposed by the sponsor,
Nokia. Over 30 rigging points for the scenery, lighting and sound
had to support loads of more than 24 tonnes.
“This
is the most important winter event for the Stageco office in Berlin,”
says Kraas. And, with 1.5 million visitors experiencing the shows
over two days, plus millions of television viewers, it’s hard
to disagree.
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The cycling tournament Lotto
Zesdaagse (Six Days) in Hasselt, Belgium, is a key date on Europe’s
hotly contested six day cycling circuit.
Supported by the City of Hasselt and sponsored by Lotto, the event
sees some 18,000 cycling fans watch stars such as Swiss cyclists
Bruno Risi and Franco Marvulli battle for position on a temporary
cycling piste.
The demountable track presented organisers Octagon CIS, the Belgian
arm of the global sporting and entertainment giant, with a logistical
challenge. Both competitors and the public needed access to the
central area of the track, which, in a permanent velodrome, would
be provided by a tunnel. However, in this case a temporary bridge
was required to span the hi-tech piste.
Stageco Belgium was the natural choice to design and install the
structure. “We built the staircase and bridge for
the first time last year,” says Bart Dekelver, a designer
in Stageco Belgium’s R&D department.
“When you work with the public there are regulations for strength
and width. The structure was designed to take 350 kilos per square
metre.”
As Octagon CIS’s Chris Vannoppen explains, “Stageco
stands for quality and experience.” As a result spectators
had the best view possible of the thrilling finale, which saw the
Swiss pair notch up more vital points in their bid for the 2007
“Sixes”. |
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The annual Brits Awards in February
is the live highlight of the British record industry’s year.
The live show is produced by the respected production manager Mick
Kluczynski (whose career was launched with Pink Floyd in the early
1970s), and the event these days is known for its high production
values and slick professionalism.
Hosted by British comedian Russell Brand, the Brits 2007 demonstrated
the ultimate professionalism of the team of suppliers, at the core
of which was Stageco, providing the vast staging operation.
The company supplied 8,000 square metres of staging and platforms
from its Belgian headquarters including the main stage, or “technical
platform”, which stood 1.5 metres above ground level, and terraced
viewing area for the table-seated VIP audience.
Stageco
project manager Dirk De Decker said:
“This is the 11th time we’ve done the Brit Awards and,
although the challenges remain similar from year to year, there is
always something different. This year, because it was Valentine’s
Day, they had a huge heart shaped video screen which we had to ground
support because the roof at Earls Court hadn’t the rigging capacity.
Mick (Kluczynski) has put a very good team of suppliers together.
The logistical side is very important for the Brits. It’s planned
very strictly, particularly regarding who does what at what time to
keep the preparations on schedule – and we are strong at getting
in and out on time.”
The build took four days, while break down took a mere one and a half
days, helping the production team to keep the time spent at the venue
to a minimum.
Stageco’s technical platform allowed risers built by set builders
such as Blackfriars to be assembled backstage and to be wheeled onstage
as required by the show.
“Because Mick sticks to his team
everyone works well together, and that’s one of the advantages
of the Brits,” says De Decker.
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The SuperBowl, the biggest sporting
event in the US calendar, is presented with plenty of razzmatazz,
including the Pepsi Smash, a series of pop, rap and R’n’B
concerts that are an integral part of the event.
For the second year Stageco was entrusted to provide the essential
staging services to support stars like Kanye West, John Legend,
Fergie and Aventura.
The three days of concerts were held in a large parking area adjacent
to the Dolphin Stadium in Miami, with the towering stadium providing
a spectacular backdrop to the shows.
The site posed a series of challenges, not least Miami’s notorious
propensity to be hit by hurricanes. “The local building
codes are very strict and Stageco’s structures had to be engineered
to comply with these, while still adhering to the client’s
vision of the event,” says Mar-Lou Figley, managing director
for Stageco US.
“In addition, there were multiple vendors all working on the
site simultaneously. Activities had to be carefully coordinated
to ensure that everyone completed their tasks on time.”
The company installed an 18 by 14 metre Stageco Boogdak stage system
for the Main Stage, with a 1.9 metre floor-height, including a loading
dock. It also provided covered technical areas stages left and right.
The VIP viewing platform featured a 24 by 19 metre transparent roof
– the first time the roof has been used in the US for this
purpose. The result provided a spectacular setting in which to serenade
one of America’s iconic sporting fixtures. |
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Belgian broadcasters VRT and RTBF
joined forces for the extraordinary show organised by Belgium and
the Brussels-Capital region. Against the stunning backdrop of the
Atomium, the ‘Stars of Europe’ concert set out to show
that heart of Brussels is beating more than ever in unison with that
of Europe and its institutions.
Stageco was selected to provide all of the staging and structures,
installing 5 truckloads of materials around the resplendently refurbished
Atomium.
Stageco’s stage design featured a hanging curved transparent
roof, with a grid structure above, based around scaffolding on and
behind the stage, which supported the LEDs and sphere at the back
side of the stage.
An abundance of TV camera’s and follow spots focused on the
stage from the mixing tower and the Stageco team also installed the
scaffolding supporting a raised VIP platform (tent on top from De
Boer) which hosted the Belgian King, celebrities, Belgian politicians,
European Heads of State - all gathering together to look back over
fifty years of unparalleled history.
Artsists representing European Union countries included Simply Red
(UK), The Gypsy Kings (Spain), the Scorpions (Germany), Zucchero (Italy)
and the evening culminated in a spectacular fireworks show.
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