Hoberman Arch
Encyclopedia
Downtown Salt Lake City
Downtown is the oldest district in Salt Lake City. The grid from which the entire city is laid out originates at Temple Square, the location of the Salt Lake Temple.-Location:...
during the 2002 Winter Olympics
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...
. Following the Olympics the arch was moved to the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park
Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park
The Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park is a plaza located at the south end of Rice-Eccles Stadium on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. During the 2002 Winter Olympics Rice-Eccles Stadium was known as Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium and was the site of the Opening and...
where it is now, along with the Olympic cauldron, one the main highlights and an important part of Salt Lake's Olympic legacy.
Design and History
The arch was designed by Chuck HobermanChuck Hoberman
Chuck Hoberman is an inventor of folding toys and structures, most notably the Hoberman sphere. He won the Chrysler Design Award for Innovation and Design in 1997 and was a finalist for the 2000 Smithsonian National Design Award.-Creations:In addition to toys such as the Hoberman sphere,the...
to be used as a mechanical curtain for the Olympic Medal Plaza's stage. It is a semi-circular aluminum structure, which opened like the iris
Iris (anatomy)
The iris is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupils and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. "Eye color" is the color of the iris, which can be green, blue, or brown. In some cases it can be hazel , grey, violet, or even pink...
of a human eye. The arch design was inspired by Utah's natural stone arches
Arches National Park
Arches National Park is a U.S. National Park in eastern Utah. It is known for preserving over 2000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch, in addition to a variety of unique geological resources and formations....
, such as Delicate Arch
Delicate Arch
Delicate Arch is a tall freestanding natural arch located in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah.It is the most widely-recognized landmark in Arches National Park and is depicted on Utah license plates and on a postage stamp commemorating Utah's centennial anniversary of statehood in 1996...
. At the time of its construction the arch was the largest unfolding structure in the world.
It took Hoberman four months to design the arch (with support from Buro Happold
Buro Happold
Buro Happold is a professional services firm providing engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of buildings, infrastructure and the environment, with its head office in Bath, Somerset...
), and another four months for Scenic Technologies of New Windsor, New York
New Windsor, New York
New Windsor is a town in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was estimated at 25,244 in 2010 by the US Census.The Town of New Windsor is in the eastern part of the county, bordering the Town of Newburgh and the City of Newburgh....
to build it. After being constructed in their warehouse in New York it was dissembled and then trucked to Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
. It was reassembled in January 2002, and unveiled to the public and media by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee
Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic Winter Games of 2002
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games of 2002 was the organization responsible for the 2002 Winter Olympics and 2002 Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City, USA....
(SLOC), on January 25, 2002.
When installed at the medal plaza it would open to reveal a large 3D sculpture of the 2002 Olympic logo and a second Olympic cauldron, known as the Hero's Cauldron. The stage not only hosted award ceremonies, where the athletes received their medals, but was used as a concert venue during the Olympics; hosting many performing artists including Creed
Creed (band)
Creed is an American rock band formed in 1995 in Tallahassee, Florida. Becoming popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the band has released three consecutive multi-platinum albums, one of which has been certified diamond, and has sold over 28 million records in the United States, with an...
, Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...
and the Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews Band, sometimes shortened to DMB, is a U.S. rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. The founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer/backing vocalist Carter Beauford and saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Boyd Tinsley was...
.
Following the Olympics, plans to install the arch in some kind of park were formulated. Many of Salt Lake's citizens wanted the arch to be used in an amphitheater or some kind of concert venue, possibly at downtown's Gallivan Center
Gallivan Center
The Gallivan Center is an urban plaza in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. It opened in 1993. Also known as the John W. Gallivan Utah Center, it is named in honor of John W. Gallivan....
or Pioneer Park. But because the arch was a symbol of the 2002 games, the United States Olympic Committee
United States Olympic Committee
The United States Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and coordinates the relationship between the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the World Anti-Doping Agency and various...
put restrictions on possible future locations for the arch (to protect Olympic sponsors from other businesses who do not have Olympic sponsor contracts). Because of these restrictions, and a lack of consensus among Salt Lake's leaders on where it would go, SLOC announced plans, on December 5, 2002, to install the arch at the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park
Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park
The Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park is a plaza located at the south end of Rice-Eccles Stadium on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. During the 2002 Winter Olympics Rice-Eccles Stadium was known as Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium and was the site of the Opening and...
.
On July 30, 2003, the arch was lifted onto its new permanent base using 3 cranes. It is no longer functional, although it is lit with various colored lights at night. It is located just outside the park's southern fence and is partly open which allows visitors to walk through it.
Details
The arch is 36 feet (11 m) tall, 72 feet (21.9 m) feet wide, and weighs 31000 pounds (14,061.4 kg) It is made up of 4,000 individual pieces put together as 96 connected panels and are connected with 13,000 steel rivets. The 96 panels vary in size, but the largest are 9 feet (2.7 m) tall and 5 feet (1.5 m) wide. The panels are also translucent which allowed light from behind to be seen and echoed the 2002 Olympic theme Light the Fire Within. Two 30-horsepower motors controlled eight separate cables which pulled the mechanical curtain open in about 20 seconds. When the arch was fully opened it had folded up into a 6 feet (1.8 m) ring, which framed the stage.Because of the potential of strong storms during the games, the arch was built to operate in extreme weather, including up to 70 miles (112.7 km) -per-hour winds.