| Popis: |
In 1958 ; United Nations, NATO1 and Europe have just been born. The World Wars are far behind. People enters the era of mass consumption with the hope of peace, prosperity and progress. Brussels has just been appointed as the temporary European headquarters, becoming the center of the Western World. This a time for enthusiasm in Belgium. In this context, Brussels hosts the first Universal Exhibition after the second World War. It will be a turn in history : tunnels, airport, and high-rise buildings will be built, confirming his new status of capital city. The European nations and entreprises will challenge their imagination to design contemporary pavilions. Amongst them, Philips commissions Corbusier to « house a multimedia spectacle that celebrates postwar technological progress ». As Corbusier was busy with the planning of Chandigarh, much of the project management was assigned to Iannis Xenakis, one of his collaborators. The prestressed concrete pavilion is a cluster of nine hyperbolic paraboloids (hypars). Hypars are double ruled and double curved surfaces. This geometry fosters the use of prefabrication and prestressing because of the two groups of rulings which define the hypar. At the opposite of a smooth combination of hypars, the vaults will be held together with reinforced concrete ribs to enables sharp edges. The presentation will investigate this structure as a folded combination of hypars. A comparative review of the design process of the pavilion is proposed : on one hand, the models will be presented as the tool of analysis at that time. On the other hand, graphic statics and his recent developments will be used to assess the potentiality of this approach in the design of sharp combination of hypars. |
