Page 45 - Between light and shade

Light, transparency and reflection

Avenue Michel-Ange and Avenue de Cortenberg
in Brussels [01/260, Fig. 21 and 22], I realised that
an external aluminium grating would be able to
perform this role relatively efficiently, with the
advantage of never needing to be cleaned.

The result is so convincing that, when visiting
the building in 2000, Jan Pieter and Dirk de Nul
effectively adopted the same system for their first
new headquarters in Aalst [01/401, Fig. 23].

In 1997, I also designed anidolic reflectors 32
for the Caisse Congés du Bâtiment project in
Brussels [01/351, Fig. 24 and 25]. Placed on the
outside, their cylindrical form makes them the
most powerful reflectors 33. They also highlight
the rhythm of the facade elements in relation to
that of neighbouring buildings. The efficiency of
the system, viewed with scepticism at the time,
appears to me to be worth reconsidering, despite
the resulting cleaning costs.

When playing absent-mindedly with a mirror
in early 1999, I realised that there was a possibi-
lity of reflecting diffuse light, modestly but effec-
tively. This inspired me to propose new facades
for a building at the Rond-Point Schumann in

32 An anidolic reflector is a light shelf that uses curved specular
reflectors designed to reflect a greater proportion of the diffuse
light from the sky than a flat mirror would do. The concept has
been studied since 1993 by Raphaël Compagnon at the EPFL
(Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne).

33 This study was conducted at the BBRI (Belgian Building
Research Institute), by Ir Peter Wouters.
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