laurent ney: shaping forces at bozar

laurent ney: shaping forces bozar, brusselson now until june 20th, 2010

on show at the bozar in brussels is ‘shaping forces’, a show featuring the work of belgian engineer laurent ney of ney & partners, who in his 12 years of practice, has influenced much of the local architectural.

in his search for optimal shapes, he works to construct ‘sculptural’ forms using raw materials. throughout his structures the interplay of form and forces is evident, inseparably bound with one another. this is the first monographic exhibition of ney’s work, and it presents the engineer, reflecting on his own practice in the light of themes such as geometry, topology and scale.

flevo, lelystad, netherlands

the complex geometry of flevo consists of 2D porches, made from standard profiles of steel. the triangulation of the skin changes in function of the local structural needs.

flevo, lelystad, netherlands

umicore, hoboken

umicore is built out of a 30 cm thick concrete shell, consisting of a ‘pile’ of three rotated boxes. overall, the building is provided with only 11 columns, which are all placed under a certain inclination. because of the rotated positions of the boxes and inclined columns, horizontal deformations are inevitable. by adding an excentric concrete core, and by selecting well-defined positions for the columns, ney has reduced deformations.

footbridge of knokke

the bridge consists of welded bent steel plates of 12 mm thickness. in this way, a structural steel ‘hammock’ is formed in which a concrete deck lies. to resist shear forces caused by the bent shape, the sides of the plates are inclined by 45 degrees with respect to the central axis.

footbridge of knokke

pedestrian bridge esch, esch-sur-alzette

the pedestrian bridge esch, is conceived as a homogeneous steel skin. the site conditions for the bridge were complex, with several overhead wires and high tension cables needing to be avoided. ney also had the obstacles of having to deal with the security zones surrounding the different networks, the limited accessibility of the park and the quasi ‘uninterruptability’ of the railway service which it crosses over.

pedestrian bridge esch, interior