We were thrilled when we were asked to work alongside the global initiative that is Ted Talks and award-winning creative director David Korins to realise the stage design for the Countdown Summit 2021. The design was a stunning structural dissection of the earth which depicted our technical age and the natural world becoming unified. A set build of epic proportions.
Wouldn’t it be great if we all worked this fast? Take a look at a time-lapse of the install so see the work that goes in to transform the entire stage.
We encompassed all elements of construction including the dominating archway, live planting with watering and drainage, iconic TED letters, pixel-mapped LED details, and a complete rebuild of the forestage to create the recessed LED ring.
Archway in place on stage
Plants on stage to be added to set
Real living plants installed to the front of the archway
Carrot found within the greenery
A view of the stage and arch from the control area
Christiana Figueres and Bruno Giussani welcoming the audience to Session 2 of the TED Countdown Summit
A SLICE OF OUR PLANET
The first part of the build was to overboard the entire stage area within the auditorium at the EICC in reusable structural ply to allow for the weight of the curved stage set. The main curved structure itself was manufactured from a steel frame which was supported from ground supports and also supported from above on a flown system. The structure was made from above and below. The sides of the arch were scenically painted inside and out, to appear as a section through the earth, using only water-based materials. The entire face of the structure was then covered in long grass and wildflower turf on an organically grown biodegradable matting. The inner reveal was scenically painted and wired up with LED tape to follow the drawings provided by the designer to create a PCB circuit board.
THEY'RE PRETTY ICONIC
The iconic TED letters were not made in the traditional light box method. The letters required to be lit on all edges, as well as the front face and all completed with a matt finish. To achieve this matt finish we used PERSPEX® Secret Sign which appears black in daylight and any colour when backlit by LEDs. The surface of the PERSPEX® Secret Sign has a fine matt texture as standard. The LED central circle was recessed into the floor to give a seamless stage surface and a central area for the summit discussions to take place.
SUMMING IT UP
We achieved this amazing construction with the help of an enormous team of dedicated in-house project managers, designers, carpenters, specialist scenic artists, and on-site freelancers. The creativity of our team was pushed to the bounds of the extraordinary with this particular conference and we all felt so proud of what we achieved and delivered to our client.
How do we keep all the plants alive for over a week inside a theatre with no natural light and glaring stage lighting? The solution we came up with was to make a waterproofed internal skin for the archway with a ‘live’ watering system which kept the plants watered throughout the day and drained the excess water away into a large container under the stage. Glow lights were also installed above the structure which helped give the plants the natural light they so greatly needed.
