All the world's a stage

An international event where young people from all over the world gather every two or three years to meet the Pope, WYD was founded by Pope John Paul II and first held in Rome in 1986.

Held in numerous cities around the world since then, in 2023 the event was organized in Lisbon during the first week of August and attracted around 1.5 million participants.

Preparations for the elaborate stage started in mid-April when Peri’s engineers met with the event organizers, the WYD 2023 Foundation, to start planning the stage, which was to be erected in Parque Eduardo VII and consist of several sections: the stage area, the main tribune area, and towering rear structures.

Several challenges in terms of logistics, calculation, and manpower were identified, including the construction of the structure’s impressive rear towers, which were the size of an Olympic swimming pool: 26m high, 40m wide, and up to 12.5m deep, including 115 tonnes of counterweights. 

In addition, the Monument to the April 25^th Revolution was inside the scaffolding. This had to be protected, so the usual bracing could not be used. Another challenge was to design a stage that could withstand the strong winds constantly blow across the site.

Engineering solutions

To overcome these hurdles, 3D design and modelling provided a visual representation of all potential obstacles, while helping both the design and installation teams to identify and overcome problems, and make adjustments, and modifications, as well as assisted in the creation of several walkways and access points for the artists and the participants.

Once the 3D planning was complete, the Peri UP Scaffolding Kit, supplemented with 4,000m of VT 20 Alpha formwork beams and 2,000m2 of 3-layer plywood panels, was used to form various platforms, with the structure anchored to the counterweights with SRU steel walers and tie rods.