It is not on the banks of the Seine but on those of the Loire, in Couëron, near Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), in the workshop which saw him, that the basin of Paris Olympic Games 2024 came to get a makeover.
The return this summerin the sky of the capital, of what will remain as one of the significant symbols of the Olympic Games is “a real consecration” for Axel Perraud, project manager within the BLAM workshop. “It is an object that asked us a lot of energy when it is design,” he says. And it would have been a shame that he ended up at the bottom of a hangar. »»
Since February and The announcement of this returnthe team again embarked on a major upgrade work. “The idea was to lower the maintenance needs and make the basin reliable,” said Axel Perraud.
For this, entire parts of the work have been taken up. This is the case, for example, of the sheet that surrounds the nacelle, made up of two very fine metal plates which pass and direct the air brewed by the fans. This is what makes it possible to create these eddies in the water droplets which thus form volutes of “smoke” more true than life.
“A high level of technicality”
Perched 60 m high, the basin carried by a balloon does not distribute any flame. The rendered effect is a clever mixture of light, water in the form of mist and pulsed air.
“Bringing all these elements several tens of meters high requires a high level of technicality, and several subjects are at the limit of the patent deposit,” underlines the project manager. The braid that takes the water to 80 pressure bars and electricity must, for example, follow the movements of the balloon which are by nature unpredictable while keeping a geometric perfection. »»
“The effect is so successful that many people believe that the flames are real,” says Pierre Viriot, brand and image director at EDF, who came to receive the work this Tuesday, May 27. The first try had also earned the arrival of the firefighters, alerted by the neighborhood, sure to see a fire. But it is indeed a flame “100 % electric and made in France. »»
EDF, which finances at 50 % the return of the basin, highlights the “strength of the symbol”. “There is a message on the need to hunt fossil fuels and limit CO2 emissions,” points Pierre Viriot. And then, he smiles, “we will again live part of the Games magic ».
