When Nike were planning to launch their most anticipated football boot in years, the brand-new Phantom, they were looking to make a bold and stylish statement with a design and concept that included a massive pyramid like structure that would enable Nike to have a soccer court inside, accompanied by a light show, while on the outside allow the structure to display projections of the new boot and other iconic Nike images.

It came as no surprise that production specialist Harry the Hirer Productions, who have 20 years’ experience servicing multinational corporations, were enlisted to build the unique Nike structure and look after technical production. Simon Finlayson, General Manager of Harry The Hirer Productions knew it was going to take a reliable truss system to build a structure of this magnitude and based on their past successes, there was only one system they felt suitable for the job, The Eurotruss System.

With the structure designed to tower over 18 meters in the city centre of Melbourne, Simon came to our Australian distributor Showtools needing a complex 3-way custom corner truss system to complete the job. “We hold great amounts of the Eurotruss Truss System in our inventory but for the shape of the structure needed for Nike, we had to acquire some unusual truss components from Showtools,” stated Simon. Showtools, along with Eurotruss went straight to work to make the complex corner system, designed by Harry the Hirer Productions a possibility. The design requirements included a deadline to get the custom sections manufactured and shipped, as well as the complexity of the angles. Keeping the structural integrity of the truss pyramid was of vital importance, and the design had to meet the strict Australian Building Code requirements demanded by the Victorian Building authority. We took on the challenge and put our welders to work around the clock to meet the tight deadlines in order to achieve the complex corner pieces.

Simon stated, “32 custom Eurotruss HD44 truss sections provide the angled corner ribs, built by Eurotruss in the Netherlands, where it was noted that they were amongst the most complex truss sections ever built, because each section bends in 3 separate directions within the truss section. They achieved these in record time and allowed us to achieve the build.”

The build by the Harry the hirer team commenced with over 30 crew on a cold and windy morning with the team having to potentially contend with gale force winds. The build required duel crane lifts to erect and dismantle with over 50 tone of ballast, with Harry the hirer aligning and positioning over 600 pieces of the Eurotruss HD44 square truss. Once the structure was fully erected, the footprint calculated to be 34x34m long and wide with it being 18 meters high.

Simon concluded, “The truss pyramid was erected, skinned and completed all over two and a half days solely built with Eurotruss HD44. The Eurotruss brand has enabled us to conquer this complex build, and allows us to complete almost any structure that is imagined from design, concept and then into reality as evident with this unique Nike structure. Thanks to Harry the hirer Productions and Eurotruss, the structure was a complete success and looked absolutely amazing with Nike pleased at the finished product.”

Credits:

Creative Production by: @Studio Messa for Nike Football

Build: @Harrythehirer_productions

Photo: @ds_oficina