BEIJING OLYMPICS

The opening and closing ceremonies for 2008 Beijing Olympic were held at the Birds’ Nest Stadium. The display was broadcast live by NBC worldwide. 80 state leaders from different countries and 90,000 audience were inside the stadium and around 1 million audience were watching outside the stadium. The total number of audience watching on TV was estimated to be over 1 billion.

VIDEO

Look back on the best moments

Event: 29th Summer Olympics & Paralympics

Date: Aug 8 (Olympics opening ceremony)

     Aug 24 (Olympics closing ceremony)

     Sep 6 (Paralympics opening ceremony)

     Sep 17 (Paralympics closing ceremony)

Venue: National Olympics Stadium (Birds’ Nest Stadium)

Contract Value: GBP 1.6 million (4 ceremonies and 2 rehearsals)

Crew: 120 members

Equipment: 12 sets of PYRODIGITAL firing systems, including 12 controllers, 60 splitter boxes, and 1,080 modules, enabling maximum 17,280 ignitions per display; synchronization via wired time code transmission system

Fireworks Products

PYRO TYPES

1.2” -3” Candles/Single-shots/Mines

Red Flash

Waterfall

Snow-flake Ti-salute

1.5” Compressed Air Launch Chipped Shell

3” Gunpowder Chipped Shell

QUANTITY (PCS)

49,500(Olympics opening: 17,460; Olympics closing: 16,400; Paralympics opening: 9,750; Paralympics closing: 5,920)

1462

500 metres

1024

324

324

DESCRIPTION OF SCOPE OF FIREWORKS

Birds’ Nest Stadium is one of the most unique buildings in the world. Its 60,00 m2 roof is manufactured from very complex and irregular steel structures from which over 50,000 shots of fireworks were to be fired from over 2000 launching positions.

The ETFE pellicle on top of the roof will melt down at 260 ℃, while the heat of conventional fireworks can be as high as 500℃ to 800 ℃. How to ensure intactness of the stadium canopy?

Through half year’s research and thousands of tests, Organizer made breakthroughs in non-residue technology and chemical recipes allowing for low temperature yet complete combustion. In addition to that, the team also custom made special fiberglass launching mortars that can stand extra high pressure. It was these critical technologies that made fireworks environmental yet meet required design effects.

It is absolutely unacceptable to make any damage or modification to the steel structure or canopy of the stadium. No welding, drilling, or any scratch to the protection paint was allowed. How to fix racks on top of the irregular stadium?

Through hundreds of times of calculation and modeling, Organizer designed a special racks that uses friction to tighten candles and mines.

How to ensure accuracy of launching angle while the angle of the steel skeleton can be as big as ±30°?

The organizer constructed an adjustable mounting structure composed of base and proper racks. The base platform’s four angles can be adjusted vertically to achieve perfect horizontal base for racks. In this way, the firing was kept at perfect angles across the whole site.

DISPLAY LAYOUT DIAGRAM

Professional management system and strict practice of safety regulations enabled the Organizer to achieve best possible safety results: throughout the whole project, there was not a single injury, nor any damage to the steel structure and canopy.

For this project, more than 50,000 shots of fireworks were installed, over 200,000 meters of cables were laid out, cranes were used 12 times to lift equipment and products onto the roof, while on the 60,000 m2 roof, over 3000 racks, totaling over 100 tons, were carried and installed manually by our crew.

PHOTOS OF ON-SITE INSTALLATION

Design Collaboration with Mr. Cai Guoqiang and His Team

As the fireworks displayer at Birds’ Nest Stadium, the Organizer has been involved in the design since the September of 2007, the product R&D period. The Organizer had very successful collaboration with Mr. Cai Guoqiang, the Chief Designer of Visual and Special Effects for Opening and Closing Ceremonies of Beijing Olympics. They together completed the transformation process from artistic concept to technical realization, including R&D of non-residue products, site layout, design of fireworks mounting structure, pyrotechnic choreography, engineering drawing and layout of firing systems.

The Organizer designed the display for the athletes parade section of the Olympics opening ceremony and the last ending show of Olympics closing ceremony. The two sections accounted for 1/3 of total display duration.

Major creative designs include footprints, Olympic rings, blooming peony, countdown numbers, rainbow, peace dove, opening to the sky, lightning, flashing red Birds’ Nest, circle and fortune clouds.

FIELD EFFECT