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45
It is remarkable that during the twentieth century,
architecture was so often distanced from the
design of structures and left in the hands of engi-
neers – whereas, for their part, most engineers
turned their backs on architecture. This is all
the more odd given that it is sometimes works by
engineers (or builders) that are the most admired
structures in history. One thinks of the Pont
du Gard, the great viaducts of Gustave Eiffel,
American suspension bridges, Eugène Freyssinet’s
first bridge over the River Lot, and so on. Over
the past few decades, increasing specialisation
has resulted in architects being brought in only to
design the embankments and parapets, as though
they were sculptors brought into decorate those
same parapets.
Fortunately, there are exceptions, perfect symbioses
between architect and engineer. There is the Pont
des Ardennes in Namur (architect: Roger Bastin,
1950–1954), and the walkway at
cern
in Mol (archi-
tects: Jacques Wybauw and Roger Bastin, 1952), not
to mention the particular attention given by Dutch,
English and American architects to structures and
urban furniture. The bridge built by Philippe Samyn for
the PetroFina research centre that crosses the Charleroi
Canal at Feluy
(01-197)
, later completed by the design
of a reception area and security checkpoint
(01-374)
,
was the first in a long series of projects and construc-
tions whose forms are almost always strict, sometimes
austere and often poetic. Some buildings were wholly
or partly designed as bridges, such as the restaurant at
the Orival service station
(01-365)
and certain parts of
the Zelzate research centre
(01-223)
. It is clear that one
of the most interesting aspects of Philippe Samyn’s
bridge design is the landscaping and urban planning
context. The project for a walkway across the railway
lines behind Leuven railway station was designed to
alleviate the rift that exists today between the town
centre and the neighbouring district of Kessel-Lo. At
Vroenhoven, near the Dutch border, the project for a
bridge across the Albert Canal
(01-433)
is designed
in such a way that it can accommodate cultural and
commercial apparatus in the upper part of its struc-
ture, thus reconnecting with a centuries-old tradition.
The inscription of architecture in an urban or rural
setting, and its organic connection to its context are
primary concerns for Philippe Samyn, and thus located
somewhere between ‘urban art’ and the much vaster
concerns of urban planning. In short, it is a matter of
linking urban functions and activities together, and even
completing them. This is the case with the handsome
project of a pedestrian bridge across the River Po in
Turin
(01-416)
, designed to connect the old city to its
more recent extensions, the structure multiplying the
scale effects. It is also the case with the project of the
‘bridge of shops’ in Copiapó, Chile, near the Atacama
Desert
(01-382)
. Each bridge or walkway project is
the opportunity for a classical structural exercise, from
the latticework of beams to research into lightness,
economy of material and the connections to the banks.
Sometimes, more complex problems present them-
selves. The new roofs for the platforms of Leuven
railway station are designed to resist both rising and
lateral winds, as well as the classic problems of stabil-
ity. In addition, as was discussed in Chapter 4, the
readability of old architecture and its proportions should
be preserved. The problem with the Leuven platforms
is part of a larger context concerning the reorganisation
of the district (and even the entire city), the junction
of its internal and external traffic, its residential and
administrative functions and the conjugation of different
aesthetics – including colours and materials – such as
those of the old architecture and the elegant brutalism
CHAPTER 7
BRIDGES, PARKING AREAS,
PLATFORMS, METROS,
AIRPORTS AND WALKWAYS
01-283
Erasme metro station,
Anderlecht, 1995–2001
01-374
Petrofina research centre,
project for the reception area,
Feluy, 1988–1989
01-199
Ponta Delgada airport,
Azores, 1988