MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.- B of the Bang is a competition winning sculpture for the City of Manchester Stadium where the 2002 Commonwealth Games were hosted, now the home of Manchester City Football Club.
The tallest sculpture in the UK, it will be inclined at an angle of thirty degrees from the vertical and represents a major challenge in both construction and engineering.
B of the Bang is made up of 180 tapering spikes, arranged in elliptical groups that radiate outwards from a central point.
For transportation to site, the sculpture�s central core is supported by a specially designed cradle. This is the largest load that can be transported by road from the factory to site and requires a dedicated police escort.
The spikes are arranged in elliptical groups, indicated here by different colours. Each spike will be bolted and then welded to the central core.
The Project Team - Thomas Heatherwick�s team includes Thomas Heatherwick Studio as lead architectural designers, Packman Lucas as the lead structural designers, Westbury Structures as the main steel contractors tasked with the fabrication and erection of the sculpture, Butterley Construction are responsible for construction of the foundation and ground works. The project is managed and co-ordinated by Nader Mokhtari of Manage Limited.
Other team members include Flint and Neill Partnership responsible for structural design checks and specialist wind consultant; Faber Maunsell acting as planning supervisors for the project; Abacus Lighting; Angle Ring; Steel Benders UK are engaged to fabricate the 175 spikes and five legs for the sculpture.
Corus is supplying the weathering steel plates in thicknesses of up to 40mm, which will be used to construct the tapered spikes. Weathering steel is a unique metal that produces its own protective coating in a range of colours depending on the surrounding environment by oxidising in a controlled way.