Salt Lake City will have plenty of gold, silver, and bronze. But the real metal winner at the Winter Olympics will be the 7.5 tons of aluminum and steel that unfurls above the award presentations. Some 35 feet tall and 70 feet wide, the Hoberman Arch at Medals Plaza will be the world's largest unfolding structure. The curtain, constructed of 96 panels like the one pictured, retracts dramatically in less than a minute. Designed by Chuck Hoberman, the engineer and toymaker best known for his expanding spheres, the arch is supported by a steel frame and clad in a fiber-filled polycarbonate sheet. "The challenge is moving thousands of pounds of metal in a way that is entirely controlled, safe, and graceful," says Hoberman. "In some ways, it's an experience that's analogous to what you might only have seen on a computer screen."
ELECTRIC WORD
Tumor Mill
Olympic Metal
Tracing Time
Global Pillage
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