2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics cauldron

[3] Heatherwick was a highly regarded designer, responsible for the first prize-winning "Seed Cathedral" at the 2010 Shanghai Expo, and the New Routemaster bus introduced in London in February 2012;[4] Boyle was an admirer of his B of the Bang sculpture in Manchester, saying of it 'I loved it so much; it's a tragedy they took it down in 2009 ...

But the same man who’d said that to us was the first person to say yes.”[9] Heatherwick wanted the cauldron to be a focal point, like an altar in a church,[4] and he described it as symbolising "the coming together in peace of 204 nations for two weeks of sporting competition ... a representation of the extraordinary, albeit transitory, togetherness that the Olympic Games symbolise"[7][10] The Olympic cauldron comprised 204 separate copper 'petals', and the Paralympic one 164 – one petal from each of the competing nations.

[11] Each 3mm thick petal was unique: designed individually using 3D modelling, hand beaten from copper sheeting, and polished by skilled craftsmen.

[7] The mechanical and electrical engineering of the cauldron was complex and demanded the most time of the project, due to the large number of moving parts.

During the project's first phase, which consisted of elaboration, assembly and first tests, the structure was codenamed "Betty", after the dog of the opening ceremony's executive producer Catherine Ugwu.

[19] All the tests and rehearsals were held late at night or in the early morning hours when Olympic airspace restrictions were in place, which stopped civil helicopters or planes from getting a view and take photos [20] During final tests on the eve of the opening ceremony, one of the rods holding the petals became jammed, necessitating overnight repairs; this news was deliberately withheld from Heatherwick.

The petals (except from the independent athletes)[23] were then passed secretly to fifteen technicians who, out of sight in the centre of the stadium, fitted them to the ends of the stainless steel stems as they lay flat on the ground.

[25] The torchbearers were (nominator in brackets): Callum Airlie (Shirley Robertson), Jordan Duckitt (Duncan Goodhew), Desiree Henry (Daley Thompson), Katie Kirk (Mary Peters), Cameron MacRitchie (Steve Redgrave), Aidan Reynolds (Lynn Davies) and Adelle Tracey (Kelly Holmes).

[29] For the closing ceremony, the operation of the cauldron was played in reverse: it opened out until flat on the ground, and the flames in the petals extinguished one by one.

For the opening ceremony, the 164 petals were pre-set prior to lighting in a semi-spherical arrangement, and the flames lit from one side of the dome to the other, unlike the spiral of the Olympic cauldron.

All but one of the petals were extinguished; Simmonds and Peacock lit new torches and distributed the fire to other performers across the stadium to represent an eternal flame.

[2][32][33] The day after the Olympics opening ceremony, details of the design, including a scale model, were added to the exhibition of Heatherwick's work that was running at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

[34][35] A selection of components and mechanisms of the cauldron were put on permanent display at the Museum of London in July 2014, to mark the second anniversary of the Games.

The London Evening Standard called it "breathtakingly beautiful",[38] while a reviewer for The Daily Telegraph commented that "It dazzles both by its exuberance and inventive dexterity".

[16] The Guardian said it was "surely one of the most enduring images of London 2012 ... the drawing together of 204 long-stemmed and flaming petals seemed to prompt a collective gasp of delight across the UK – for its symbolism as well as its technical grace.

Conceptually brilliant and utterly beautiful it was one of the most successful examples of an ambition among the Games' organisers to reinvent the familiar elements of the Olympics.

[38] This was to prove a controversial decision, as it meant that visitors to the Olympic Park to watch the other sports were denied the customary view of the flame over the stadium.

[44] The accountants handling LOCOG's affairs after it ended its work in May 2013 later reached an out-of-court settlement, and issued a statement listing two sets of key concepts by Atopia (without specifically acknowledging fault); Heatherwick and Boyle were not consulted about this.

[45][46] An end of year review chose the cauldron as one of the top five design highlights of 2012,[47] and Heatherwick was voted the Architects' Journal architecture personality of 2012 by its readers.