NY20??

I find it hard to believe that the few people who know everything about the cauldron would bother relaying any information or design images to the graphic design team in charge of making the tickets. I mean, why bother? The only people speculating about the cauldron enough to catch the hint would be a handful on a couple of internet discussion boards. Not really worth the effort I think.

A Skylon-esque cauldron make sense and does indeed take off the need for a big, deep foundation, which has been my biggest qualm with a large outdoor cauldron.

The bridge design is coincidence. It's been there for years and years as pointed out above. And is there a close-up aerial pic up of this "plate" area? I sound like a broken record in this thread by continuing to bring this up, but such a tall cauldron would require a sizable foundation to support it. Is there any evidence of a foundation in this "plate" area? With pretty much a month to go until rehearsals... I'm getting ready to completely 100% throw out the possibility of a tall cauldron tower... There just ins't anymore time left to build one...

If they wanted to have lots of people cross the water there to see a cauldron, they would have a considerably bigger bridge. Not a small narrow one.

I think the mound and Tor will stay and become a symbol of nature always being in the outlying distance when the central stage becomes London, industrial revolution, city life, etc.

It would also look dumb for the final torch beater to zig-zag his or her way up a grassy mound. But that's my thinking.

We knew that already.

Well, BC place was an inclosed venue so aerial pictures showed nothing and the idea of a cauldron out by the convention center wasn't really on people's minds so no one was looking there. Five weeks out, Beijing's cauldron was well into its construction... nothing yet about London's that we can see...

Jerusalem and Blue Monday? Sounds like it can awkward and dissonant rather quickly, but if it's all going to be mixed into a dance mash-up by Underworld then it could really work and be something memorable. I've always thought the perfect soundtrack for a Parade of Nations would be a mix of Sydney's and Athen's; instrumental music from around the world with the biggest delegations getting their specific piece placed when they walk in, all set to huge, high-energy house music dance beats.

Ah ok, that makes sense. Good to hear they're being ambitious with this.

Really interesting thing to say on his part. The UK is a free and open society, I don't think Danny Boyle and his team would need hard approval from the government for any artistic decisions they take with the ceremony... It sounds like they are doing something that would otherwise be illegal somehow, weird...

You can tell in those pictures that the individual strips of the wrap are rolled up on the ground outside the stadium. Should be up soon.

You can that Sydney's and Beijing's lightings were not really "moments" because those lighting sequences were rather long compared to others, so I can see what he might mean by that. Also, it sounds like he did indeed have some say in coming up with the lighting sequence and it wasn't a matter of Boyle's team telling him to design a cauldron to accomodate the sequence they already thought out.

No, I said all places have their fair points against them at this point so I'm not going to stand behind any of them at this point. It was in response to your suggesting that I should perhaps propose an alternate ideas instead of shooting people's hypothesis down.

The pods are clustered up like that because there aren't any on the west side of the stadium as the VIP building takes up concourse space. The pods that would go on the west side occupy space on the northern end. And I'm just going by observation. If I see something that looks like it could be for a cauldron, I'll propose it as a possible location. Eery area both inside and outside the stadium that's been put forward as a posible location (the Orbit, inside the stadium in front of the screen, outside on the northern end, the canals) has its strong points against it and none of them seem likely to me at this point. I used to think a cauldron on the northern of the stadium was pretty much a definite, but then I realized how much of a foundation Torino's cauldron tower needed and observed how little activity is and has taken place in that area. Perhaps as July 27th approaches, we'll see activity congregate on a particular spot and things will become more and more clear, but again, it's hard to say at this point. I personally like it this way; it'll be great on the organizers if we go into the night of the ceremony without knowing where the cauldron will be, unlike with every other past Games. We'll be in for a real surprise.

Haven't there been barges on those canals for years now? And what's to say that particular barge isn't transporting in materials to be used inside the stadium? Honestly who knows why its there, but I think that's a more likely explanation for its presence there than its being involved in tricky underwater installation of what would be a massive cauldron on a canal that is practically behind the VIP's inside the stadium...

Whatever it is, there are more just like it at multiple points around the stadium so it's doubtful they're cauldron related.

I don't think a cauldron in the area of the thor is a given, but I don't think it's completely impossible at this point either. I would take that over a large cauldron outside the stadium and here's why: Old aerial pictures of the northern end of the stadium. No real signs of a pre-laid foundation for a tall cauldron tower. And the Daily Mail would've made sure to take pictures of this area if there was significant activity going on, so I would say probably isn't at the moment. Time is quickly running out for such a big structure to start getting anchored to the concourse...

Sydney's stage doubled as the cauldron's holding spot, let's not forget. And for the sake of clarification and to ensure everyone is caught up (because I'm not), what exactly did Adrian say? Does he know exactly where it's going to be or does he have a general idea of where it may or may not go?

Starting to think we might need a non-spoilers thread, jeez.

From the picture of the tree in the stadium it does look like a big flame really might be a hazard so close to that fabric roof. And I think a zig-zag'ed climb up the mound to a cauldron would be really dragged out, no?

They There's definitely space there, but not for anything too big. So maybe these are the problems Heatherwick had to solve when designing the cauldron? 1. How to fit the cauldron underneath the mound and make it emerge from the small opening at the top where the tree stood? 2. Once out of the mound, how can the cauldron potentially transform into something bigger and more impressive? 3. And if the cauldron is not going to remain there during the Games, how can it be transported to another location? And there may be an altogether unsolvable problem with this location in that the stadium's roof would be right above the flame. They can't have a big flame burning underneath such a delicate fabric roof.

So is that definitely water / a moat around the stage? I'm guessing no as it inclines upwards as a ramp around the Glastonbury pit and thorn.

Very, very cool. A great counterpoint to Beijing's stark grey staging. And I was wondering when a host would make foliage the predominant element of their ceremony stage. Very fitting that it's Britain!

That's certainty possible, though I do feel like a big hole would've been noticed during general construction. Someone should try and get old construction pictures of specifically that northern end of the stadium and post them. I'll try to find some tomorrow.