london 2012 olympic tree rings

design consultancy pentagram‘s harry pearce and naresh ramchandani to create a series of permanent pieces for over 10 different locations 

around olympic park. a collection of 500 kg phosphored bronze and stainless steel forged rings measuring six meters in diamater lay 

suspended among 10 different trees, reflecting on a message that depicts the story of the way tree rings show history and age. 

these metal cast rings however, trace the story of the olympic site over the past few centuries, where on the inside of each ring is an 

inscribed double-lined vignette encapsulating a broad range of information relevant to each location.

rendered in a redrawn version of the akzidenz grotesque typeface, the inscribed passages of text, of which were informed by stories collected by british artist lucy harrison along with research provided by the museum of london express messages that depict evocative and poetic staments about london. as time goes by, the artwork will grow as one with the tree, tranforming as seasons change to provide a vivid representation of how a tree can mark time through a physical metamorphosis. the red oak, common ash and silver lime trees are excpected to reach full maturity over the next 25-30 years, reaching up to 18 metres tall.

render of the tree standing at around 10 meters tall with the rings intertwined between branches

detail of typographic tree rings by harry pearce

two bands of type as a simplistic stream of data poetry cast in phosphored bronze

detail of the data from lucy harrison

rings in construction

ring installation

detail of an installed ring

words by ackroyd & harvey with help from naresh ramchandani

measuring scale and proportions of the rings 

planting and installing one of the trees and rings on site

transporting the tree to its future site

transportation for the tree