'Ballman' as he has become dubbed, is a World Cup project for sportswear brand Nike. He is comprised from 537 x 2 mm steel wire rope drops each containing specific numbers of balls.
The atrium of the Carlton Centre is being used as a Nike event and exhibition space for the duration of the tournament. Summit was initially approached by structural engineers, Leeds based Ratcliff Fowler Design, who designed the sculpture for Nike, and then needed some serious rigging expertise for the very intricate installation.
Prior to being sea freighted to South Africa, a complete Ballman test-build took place at Magna, the Science Adventure Centre and steel visitor attraction in Rotherham. This was one of the few places in the UK with enough room to host the operation, which was co-ordinated by the Magna technical team, Transmitta.
Summit's project manager Jay Call studied the Carlton Centre's structural plans and discovered that the atrium of the building has a 12 x 12m steel grid, complete with five beams, three metres apart.
Summit then designed an aluminium mother grid to fly below this, which is picked up on four 5 tonne hoists. Once the sub-structure was flown at its 15m trim height, the bottom was filled in with flat panels and clad with moulded polystyrene - all with 537 holes drilled exactly in the right places for the steel wire drops. This completely conceals all the metalwork and rigging, giving the appearance of a solid ceiling with the Ballman 'floating' in the air.
The pre-measured ball drops were then hauled up from the floor individually and secured to the mother grid.
After the test build de-rig, they were shipped from the UK in their own carefully marked up cases that denoted the precise positions in this vast jig-saw. Once in situ at the Carlton Centre, the boxes were placed in the right positions on the floor and the strings unfolded as the drops were pulled up.
Summit's team of three riggers was led by John Cole and included Rob Sadler and Alex Duke. Their work started on a Sunday, and involved several over-nighters, whilst the shopping centre was closed, finishing the following Friday.
The main installation challenge was the load in, where they couldn't use any wheeled vehicles, so all the component pieces had to be hand carried down long corridors. Ballman stays in place for the whole World Cup tournament period, and when dismantled, the intention is that the balls will be given away.
Jay Call comments, "It was a great pleasure to be involved in this project, which was different, challenging and extremely rewarding, both as a feat of engineering and a creative work for public enjoyment."
(Jim Evans)
