THE TORCH OF TRENTINO 2013 WINTER UNIVERSIADE

The Torch of Trentino 2013 Winter Universiade UNIVERSITY, SPORTS, INNOVATION

The University of Trento is honoured to play a key role in the Trentino 2013 Winter Universiade, the greatest multidisciplinary sports event ever organized in Trentino. The University had already been taking steps to encourage students to practise sports and to stimulate their participation in student-athlete events. The Universiade is a unique opportunity for developing these features which are particularly close to our hearts. Sports and innovation should develop side by side; research and innovation are equally important. Within the organization of the Universiade, the University of Trento coordinated a series of research projects, whose main topic is sports. One of these projects led to the creation of the Torch for the Trentino 2013 Winter Universiade. This is the first time that a university has actually designed and built a torch for the Universiade or for the Olympic Games . Naturally we are proud of the skills involved and the know-how. With reference to this specific project, we are grateful to the Department of Industrial Engineering, in particular to the team led by Stefano Rossi who worked on this project with determination and passion. The result is impressive: the Trentino 2013 Torch, a blue gentian illuminating the greatest international university sports event.

Paolo BouquetRector’s Delegate for Sports activities at the University of Trento and Vice President of the Organizing Committee of the Trentino 2013 Winter Universiade.

When I started to think about the project of the torch for the Trentino 2013 Winter Universiade, I was thrilled. The torch is one of the symbols of the Universiade and, for the first time, such an important project was not outsourced to a renowned design studio, but commissioned to a university team. This is the reason why I was even more motivated to create an aesthetically beautiful item, capable, at the same time, of conveying many meanings. The 10 implemented torches, the 10 blue flowers in steel are, on the one hand, the outcome of cutting-edge research activities in the field of new materials, carried out by the University of Trento and, on the other, the result of the patient and accurate work of artisans. Every torch is unique and different from the others. The fact that it is Pope Francis who would lit the flame filled me with joy.I wish to thank the Organizing Committee of the Universiade and the University of Trento for this great opportunity, as well as all the people who would lit have played a role in this project: the Director and the staff of the Department of Industrial Engineering, the architect Alessandro Titone, and the team of professionals, authorities and companies who have contributed with their time, specific skills and enthusiasm.

Stefano RossiProject leader, engineer and Professor of Product Design in the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Trento.

A BLUE FLOWER IS THE LIGHT OF THE UNIVERSIADEThe gentian, the Alpine flower with five blue petals and green sepals, was the source of inspiration for the design of the Torch of the Trentino 2013 Universiade. It is one of the symbols of the Universiade, or perhaps the symbol par excellence: carried by the torch-bearers, it will bear the flame which will open the event. A steel flower, rooted in the tradition, but looking to the future.The structure (petals and stalk) is in an innovative kind of stainless-coloured steel, called TSteel, in very bright colours and with texturized surfaces. The central part is a wind torch (and not a gas burner), made of recycled or natural materials (wood, paraffin, vegetal wax and jute). The design is simple and harmonious. The five sepals of the flower remind one of the colours of the 5 stars of the Universiade (and of the 5 Olympic rings) - blue steel, yellow birch wood, black carbon fibre, green artificial stone and red acrylic polymer.

The torch was designed and built at the University of Trento and it is the result of the research activities performed in the engineering field there. It is the outcome of the cooperation between people and local public and private bodies ; indeed, all the people involved contributed with their experience and professional skills with generosity and passion. It is a product representing Italy and Trentino, a project bio-inspired and bio-shaped, focusing on environmental sustainability and using cutting-edge solutions in the field of new materials.

THE ORIGINS OF THE PROJECTThe Universiade Organizing Committee commissioned the project of the torch to the University of Trento and, in particular, to a team in the Department of Industrial Engineering. The team submitted specific requirements and limits, so that the torch would be in harmony with all the features of the Trentino 2013 Winter Universiade. We shall retrace the development of the project, typical of design projects, starting from the required features or technical characteristics.• Functionality. The torch needs to function in

the typical weather conditions of November and December, not only in Trento and in Italy, but also in the other cities through which the torch will be carried, guaranteeing that the flame will last at least 30 minutes. The flame must be free.

• Weight. The torch will be carried by hand for a certain amount of time and, therefore, it has to be light and offer the right ergonomics.

• The colours. Blue and green, the colours chosen for the communication campaign of the Trentino 2013 Universiade have to be used. These colours are used in the symbol, for the gadgets and for all official communications.

Only 10 torches were ordered. It is a reduced number, in comparison with the thousands which are usually produced for other sports events. The quantitative aspects are fundamental to the determination of the choice of materials and productive processes. Thus, every torch can be designed as a unique project and not as a mass-product.

DEFINITION OF THE PRODUCTUsability and functionality are certainly fundamental when defining the product. However, the symbolic and evocative aspects are very important as well.What will the torch represent?What philosophy, what mind-set and what values do we wish to express?• The values of sports at the basis

of the Olympic tradition.• The values of the Universiade, also known

as University Olympic Games: sports, university and universality.

• The specific features of the “Winter” Universiade: the mountain-related sports and the other winter sports.

• The study, the knowledge and the training of young people as an added value: the athletes competing in the Universiade are university students.

• The torch represents Italy and Trentino, i.e. the host territory where the Universiade will be held, and the features which mark these territories. The Organizing Committee also stipulated that the Italian flag should be inserted in the project.

ATHESINA STUDIORUM UNIVERSITASThe University of Trento was honoured and proud to welcome the invitation of the Organizing Committee to design and produce the torch for the Universiade. The torches engineered in the past in Italy were projected by great Italian designers, such as Giugiaro Design (Turin 2007 Winter Universiade) and Pininfarina (Winter Olympic Games, Turin 2006); this is the first time that a torch has been designed and built by a university team.The challenge is exciting: the use of personal skills and know-how to design and produce a beautiful, functional and symbolic object. However, the University of Trento is used to dealing with challenges.The University of Trento has just celebrated its 50th anniversary. It was founded in 1962 with the institution of the Higher Institute of Social Sciences, i.e. the first Faculty of Sociology in Italy, therefore, already a challenge! Today, the University of Trento is organized into 10 Departments and 3 research centres, with more than 16,000 enrolled students.

The Departments of Engineering are located on a hill to the east of Trento, just a few minutes from the city centre and surrounded by unspoilt landscapes: the ideal setting for studying and research. The project of the torch was commissioned to the Department of Industrial Engineering. Stefano Rossi is the project leader. He is an engineer and a Professor of Materials Technology and Design in the Department of Industrial Engineering. During the designing phase, he was assisted by the architect Alessandro Titone, from Imola.

THE PROJECT STARTSStefano Rossi and his team begin to work. Innovation and tradition are marked features of the Province of Trento - hence the choice of the leading thread of the project. The project will rouse the feeling that the creation is innovative but, at the same time, that it is rooted in the local traditions.The University of Trento has been carrying out research activities in the field of Materials Technology, of which it is one of the leaders. Hence, the necessary skills were already there and there was the chance to “play” with cutting-edge and traditional materials.Before starting the project, the previous torches were analysed - those produced for the Olympic Games and the Universiade of Turin 2006, Beijing 2008 and London 2012), to avoid duplications and, indeed on the contrary, to create something with a particular character. The first sketches were produced and, after the response to considerable feedback and the construction of prototypes, to verify the right amounts of space, feasibility and ergonomics, the construction was able to begin.

FROM THE GENTIAN A BIO-INSPIRED AND BIO-SHAPED PRODUCTA bio-inspired and bio-shaped torch was chosen, in order to satisfy both the required features of the object and the idea of environmental sustainability.Inspiration led to thinking of the gentian as the possible shape of the torch.The gentian, the Alpine flower which evokes the mountains and therefore winter sports, has a blue corolla and green stalk and sepals: the colours chosen for this Universiade. The corolla seems to contain and protect the Olympic fire, defending it with 5 petals - 5 like the Olympic rings and the Universiade stars.The structure, petals and the stalk were produced in an innovative stainless coloured steel, called TSteel, which grants very bright colours and texturized surfaces. To produce the 5 petals, plates in steel with parallel lines were used, which offer a perception of the bio-shaped movement and line of petals. The plates were texturized, coloured and laser-cut and, then, assembled by Steel Color1. Coloured stainless steel was used also for the green stalk and the surface connecting the top of the petals, closing the torch and forming the base for the wind burner. The surface was coloured in golden yellow, because this colour is in harmony with the flame ; it mirrors it and , like gold, draws one’s attention to the most precious area of the torch: the flame.

1 Steel Color, Pescarolo Ed Uniti, Cremona; we would like to thank Stefano Ricci, Cristoforo Guindani and Elisa Cè.

BACK TO ANCIENT TIMES: THE WIND BURNER Stefano Rossi, the project leader (see picture to the left) explained: “In order to make the flame visible in daytime too and to meet the environmental and duration criteria required a wind torch was chosen”. As opposed to the last Olympic and Universiade torches, based on a gas burner, a “simple” torch in paraffin/vegetale wax was elected to focus on the value of the past, on tradition and on environmental sustainability. Therefore, a wind torch2 was designed, with particular dimensions, so that it can be easily changed . Only recycled materials (jute) and natural materials (vegetale wax) were used, to reflect the strong perception of environmental sustainability connected with the safeguarding of the Alpine environment. Wax was coloured in yellow to call to remind the pistils of the flower.

2 In cooperation with Cereria Ronca (Mattarello, Trento).

The internal structure does not have any particular function, apart from supporting the wind torch and being light and it is made of wood and endured with a lathe 3.In order to hide the internal structure and create a uniform-colour effect, a mesh in green-coloured stainless steel was inserted, whose knit structure creates a translucent effect.

3 Faculty of Design and Art, Free University of Bozen – Bolzano. Thanks to Gianpietro Gai.

HIGH-TECHNOLOGY MATERIALSThe 5 Olympic rings and the 5 Universiade stars are marked by 5 colours: blue, yellow, black, green and red. These colours are used for the sepals forming the stem of “our” gentian.At a perceptive level, the 5 colours are connected with 5 classes of materials, both traditional and innovative, and convey 5 different meanings.

5 SEPALS, 5 COLOURS, 5 MATERIALS, 5 MEANINGSBlue. Steel. Skating. The metal has blue shades, like skate blades gliding on ice. Super-mirror stainless steel (TSteel) coloured in blue was used. The design was created with serigraphic techniques and acid attack to remove the coloured layer (Steel Color4).Yellow. Wood. Hockey. Wood is a yellowish colour, easy to colour in transparency. The hockey sticks are traditionally made of wood. Birch veneer was selected for its particular texture, then laser-cut upon design5; finally the yellow colour was intensified with a coat of transparent water paint.Black. Carbon fibre. Skiing. Carbon fibre is black and it is widely used in the production of skis. This material conveys the idea of an innovative material and its particular texture evokes the skyline of the mountains. Pre-soaked textiles with different orientation and positioning of carbon fibre were used. The plates obtained were cut with tools to create the shape of two skis. The symbol was designed by the Department of Industrial Engineering.6

4 Steel Color, Pescarolo Ed Uniti, Cremona5 Faculty of Design and Art, Free University of Bozen - Bolzano.6 Polymers and Composites Laboratory.

Thanks to Alfredo Casagranda and Thiago Medeiros Araujo.

Green. Artificial stone. The book. In order to call to mind study and knowledge, a book was chosen as a symbol, marking the difference between the Universiade and the Olympic Games. Glass and ceramic materials had still not been used . However, they were excluded because they are excessively dense, fragile and difficult to work. Innovative materials were chosen, capable of offering colours and texture reminiscent of stone. An artificial stone plate LG HiMacs7, whose surface imitates green stone ,was used.. The book binding is perfect on which to write the official name of the Universiade, as if it were the title of a book. The plate finishing was obtained with milling.8 Red. Polymetilmetacrilate. Curling. Red is the colour of polymer, reminiscent of the “stone” used in curling, a drawing of which is sketched on the surface. Red polymetilmetacrilate9 was finished with milling10.

7 Provided by ELF, Ospitaletto, Brescia. Thanks to Antonio Fumagalli.

8 Istituto tecnologico Max Valier, Bozen. Thanks to Michael Staudacher.

9 Acrilgraph, Limena, Padua.10 Istituto tecnologico Max Valier, Bozen.

THE ITALIAN FLAG IN PORCELAIN ENAMELBottom plate. Finally, the Italian flag had to be added. The choise of an oblique stalk/tube closed with an oval copper plate coated in porcelain enamel came naturally. Porcelain enamel is a kind of coating which gleams and does not change with time. Hence, it has been used since ancient times as a symbol of precious and regal elements. Small discs in copper were produced at the Department of Industrial Engineering11; then they were glazed, using the graffito technique on white dust with black base, to create the words and the green and red brush strokes which give the idea of a flag waving . The glazing was carried out at the High School in Trento, Liceo artistico A. Vittoria12, using porcelain enamels.13 Each glazed disc is different from all the others and this detail, together with the presence of the layer in porcelain enamel makes each torch a “unique product”.

11 Industrial Corrosion Control Laboratory. Thanks to Luca Benedetti.

12 Liceo delle Arti - Liceo artistico A. Vittoria, Trento. Thanks to Elina Massimo, M. Grazia Brunelli, Lorenza Sebastiani, M. Elena Filippi and Anna Pisetta.

13 Enamel by Wendel Email Italia, Chignolo D’Isola, Bergamo. Thanks to Attilio Compagnoni.

Assembling the symbols and the bottom plate. The assembly was performed at the Department of Industrial Engineering14; the symbols were added to the bottom plate after some concluding processes to create a morphological uniformity among the symbols.

14 Industrial Corrosion Control Laboratory.

“Trentino 2013 Winter Universiade is a front-rank event which we support with great enthusiasm, because of the importance of sports in the field of training, innovation and research. Sports mean the endeavour, the fight, the effort to find a solution to problems, and research plays an important role in this. The creation of the torch by a team of the University of Trento is small but not insignificant proof of this”. This was the opinion of the Rector, Daria de Pretis, when she thanked Stefano Rossi, the project leader, and the other members of the team, Luca Benedetti and Alfredo Casagranda, who are technical staff in the Department of Industrial Engineering.

THE TORCH IS READY TO LIGHT UP THE TRENTINO 2013 WINTER UNIVERSIADE

On pages 2-3: the presentation of Trentino 2013 Winter Universiade, CONI Salone d’Onore, Rome 19 September 2013 (Courtesy of Daniele Mosna, Archive of the Press Office of the Autonomous Province of Trento)From left:Innocenzo Cipolletta President of the Committee of Honour Trentino 2013 and President of the University of TrentoAlessandro Andreatta Mayor of TrentoLeonardo Coiana President of CUSIGiovanni Malagò President of CONISergio Anesi President of the OC of Trentino 2013Alberto Pacher President of the Autonomous Province of TrentoMarta Dalmaso Provincial Councillor for SportsDaria de Pretis Rector of the University of Trento

A special thanks toSteel Color Spa, Pescarolo Ed Uniti, Cremona

AcknowledgementsIstituto tecnologico Max Valier, BozenFaculty of Design and Art, Free University of Bozen-BolzanoIstituto delle Arti - Liceo artistico A. Vittoria, TrentoWendel Email Italia srl, Chignolo D’Isola, BergamoCereria Ronca srl, Mattarello, TrentoELF srl, Ospitaletto, BresciaAcrilgraph srl, Limena, Padua

ART>UNITrentoPublications by the Communication and Event Office, Central Management, University of TrentoGraphics and layout >Merj MoraniText editing > Marinella Daidone

IMG>UNITrento Photographic Archive (Luca Valenzin), AgF Bernardinatti, Daniele Mosna (Archive of the Press Office of the Autonomous Province of Trento), Menestrina, Fotolia.com

Printed in November 2013