Ryder Cup Opening Ceremony, Paris

Ryder Cup Opening Ceremony, Paris

For the Ryder Cup opening ceremony in Paris, we designed a stage built to hold two teams, two nations and a crowd of thousands, all facing the same trophy. A vast curved canopy sweeps up and over the stage like a wing taking flight, sheltering the ceremony beneath it and giving the whole structure real presence against the open parkland setting, with the Ryder Cup itself raised high at its peak as the moment's focal point.

Either side of the stage, tiered seating fans out to hold both teams in full view of one another, each half dressed in its own identity, the Stars and Stripes on one side, Europe's ring of gold stars on the other, so the design does as much to build the rivalry as any speech does. Twin giant screens either side of the main structure carry the ceremony out to the thousands gathered on the grass beyond, keeping every guest connected to the stage no matter how far back they're standing.

It's a design built for occasion and scale in equal measure: grand enough to open one of golf's biggest events, and precise enough to give both teams, and the trophy between them, the stage they deserve.