London stadium's decorative wrap gets the green light
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Shanghai Daily, August 5, 2011
London's 500-million pound Olympic Stadium will have a glossy makeover for next year's Games with the steel girders and grey concrete that form its exterior being covered by a decorative wrap, organizers said yesterday.
Chemical giant Dow , the newest worldwide partner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), will foot the bill for temporary fabric wrap which will consist of 336 individual 25 meters high vertical panels.
The sleek 80,000-seat bowl-like stadium, completed in May, was originally designed to be covered by a wrap but the plan was ditched last October to save around 7 million pounds (US$11.48 million) from the project unless a private partner could be found.
Dow would be allowed to advertise on the wrap until a month before the Games, after which, all venues must be clean, organizers said.
"Having the wrap is the icing on the cake," London Organizing Committee chairman Sebastian Coe said in a statement. "The stadium will look spectacular at Games time."
The wrap resembles a series of white vertical blinds. A spokesman said exactly how they would be decorated was still being discussed.
However, after criticism in some quarters that the stadium looked rather stark compared to the eye-catching Bird's Nest in Beijing, the wrap will allow colored lights and images to illuminate the structure which has now become a landmark on the east London skyline. In line with London's emphasis on providing a "green" Games, organizers said Dow's Performance Plastics Division were working on resins that would make the wrap 35 percent lighter than using conventional materials.
