Ecca collection

This unusual feature, designed by architect Dmitry Tararin and Alexander Galstyan, from the Russian design office of Kuban Universal Projekt, in Krasnodar, is the Olympic Cauldron. Built by local contractor Stroyinternational, it was this that held the all-important Olympic flame for the duration of the Games. 

The curved skin of the cauldron comprises tapered and XT profiled Kalzip sheets, from Tata Steel subsidiary Kalzip, with some 7,000 square metres of Reynobond aluminium composite panels and Reynolux prepainted aluminium sheets in standard pure white RAL 9016, from Alcoa Architectural Products. The aluminium sheets were screwed into place on the Kalzip steel sheets by Bulgarian fabricator Horizont. 

Reynolux and Reynobond can perfectly be combined on the same project, says Alcoa. “This unique, one-stop product range allows our partners to acquire prepainted aluminium and aluminium composite panels in absolutely identical colour, yet with matching quality. Combinations of both products, such as in façades or roofs, make for a simple, attractive and high quality solution.” 

The two products were chosen in large part for their innovative EcoClean™ coating, Alcoa adds. This light-sensitive titanium dioxide coating acts as a catalyst, it explains, ‘by rendering moisture, dirt and smog particles harmless”. As a result, EcoClean™ helps the cladding clean itself and also helps to clean the surrounding environment. 

The sleek silhouette of the Sochi Olympic Cauldron, which has been compared by many observers to the neck of a goose, gains additional elegance from the light reflective quality of its smooth aluminium cladding. Its shimmering surface responding to even slight variations in the weather and prevailing light conditions. 

Credits: Dmitry Tararin  |  Alcoa Architectural Products^®  |  Kalzip