The
Big Frieze for Summit
Stage
Product Stories Published: 17 July 2005
Summit Steel installed over 5,000 metres of 4 mm steel wire
cable at the Frieze Art Fare in Regents Park to support muslin
ceilings in four Owen Brown clearspan structures, with interiors
designed specially for the event by architect Davis Adjaye.
The 4-day Frieze 2004 was the largest ever contemporary
art exhibition and events programme staged in the UK, and was
enjoyed by over 40,000 visitors and art lovers.
The look and feel of the exhibition space was
airy, open and predominantly white. Following the phenomenal
success of last year’s inaugural event, this year the
area Summit was dealing with increased to total 15,720 sq. metres.
The largest of the structures measured a massive 200m x 40m
with a capacity of 8,000 square metres).
The steel cable was secured to the struictures using Summit’s
custom designed rafter clamps – These are a 2 part metal
clamp that fixes into the lower grooves in the roof rafter beams.
Additionally, Summit also installed various elements of flown
signage and other pieces including 10 cubic cardboard signs
throughout the gallery spaces, and hanging points for four suspended
pieces of art in the VIP area
Specific challenges included the rigging crew of up to five
people working alongside numerous other contractors - lighting,
carpet layers, stand fitters, carpenters, etc., to complete
the install in the very short timeframe. The load-in window
was over a 12 day period between the structure being erected
and the individual stands being built. The park is only available
for a total period of 28 days, which has to encompass build,
show and break down, thus making the global schedule incredibly
tight. There was also extraneous chaos factors to deal with
like the weather – which caused delays to the construction
schedule when erratic!
Planning all the rigging parameters for the signage,
etc., before the ceiling is installed is also tricky to predict.
Once the ceiling is in, there’s no access to the roof
beams, so all rigging taking place ‘through’ the
roof has to be pre-planned.
In addition to the 5 Km of catenaries, Summit also provided
a 12 x 11 metre ground supported trussing grid in the main auditorium,
supporting a thicker cloth ceiling to deaden sound between the
auditorium and the surrounding exhibition spaces. Summit also
rigged a special scaffold frame to support a large 12 x 2 metre
sign at the site entrance.
The Fair showed the work of over 1000 artists, with over 140
leading international galleries participating, including several
cutting-edge new galleries showcasing the work of up-and-coming
artists. The 2004 Fair was expected build on the phenomenal
commercial success of the 2003 event, generating over £20
million.
