Page 80 - Between light and shade

between light and shade, TRANSPARENCy and reflection

escape staircase in the “lantern” of the Europa
building, which is suspended from a 1.5mm thick
50%-perforated sheet made from ordinary steel
S235 86 [01/494, Fig. 79], and even when extending
the winery vats at Château Cheval Blanc in Saint-
Emilion [01/542, Fig. 80], both to support the
roof and its light shaft and to provide protection
against falling.

It becomes a structural element in its own
right, when it replaces the diagonals in lattice
beams to absorb the shear force, whilst also
providing climate protection and counterac-
ting falls 87. I designed two footbridges based on
this principle in 2010 88, but was not able test the
concept until 2016 for the exercise tower at the
Fire Station in Charleroi [Fig. 81].

Owing to the emergence of ultra high-
strength steel, it would be interesting to envisage
creating enormous perforated sheet steel tents,
like those created, in solid sheet by Vladimir
Shukhov 89 in Nizhny Novgorod in 1895 and 1896

86 What is more, it does not require any fire protection as it is
stressed to less than one-twentieth of its yield strength.
87 A metal sheet used “levelled”, which is more “ethical” as there

is no waste from the holes in the perforated sheet, can also be
used with less structural effectiveness.
88 The footbridge over the railway tracks at Leuven Station — third

version (p: 2010, c: pending, 01/415-3) and two large footbridges
in Ghent, over the canal and the motorway (p: 2010, 01/575).
89 Vladimir Grigorievitch Choukhov (1853-1939).

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