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Education

Creating lyrical facades

Realising spectacular architectural projects is no longer the preserve of a handful of famous architects. Thanks to Architect Karel Jan Vollers’ ingenious new invention, everyone can now build their own Guggenheim, using glass.

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Architect Karel Jan Vollers (49) has invented a cheaper way to build tordated glass facades than the methods currently used by celebrity architects, like Frank Gehry. Dr. Vollers has developed the world’s first method for creating twisted and bent façades. Last Tuesday, his invention earned him a PhD. This week, he’ll publicly unveil his invention at the Building Fair, in Utrecht

Vollers’ eyes were first opened to the amazing potentialities while visiting Brazil in 1986, where he was fascinated by Oscar Niemeyer’s work. Vollers: “Niemeyer could do special things because of the low wages paid to workers in South America then. Nowadays, by using computers, that should be possible in Europe too.”

Vollers began his research in 1992, quickly discovering that other people had had the same ideas. “Frank Gehry and Santiago Calatrava had already experimented with twisted buildings. And, of course, Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao brought bent surfaces to the world’s attention.”

Unlike his colleagues, Vollers didn’t opt for one-off projects. He wanted to create commercially available bent glass and window frames. However, as he was developing a completely new product that filled no current market niche, he couldn’t find a company willing to support his research. And architectural foundations provided no help either.

“The foundations thought it too technical,” Vollers says scornfully, “but there’s only one formula in the whole book! In fact, it’s an easily accessible method for all architects and designers. But that’s the problem in the Netherlands: technique is taboo. As soon as something looks like product development, it’s no longer deemed to be artistic and therefore it’s not architecture. That’s such a personal opinion, you can’t oppose such arguments.”

Flexible

With no other options, Vollers paid for the first six years of his research himself. In 1998, he began his PhD studies at the faculty of Architecture. In order not to scare off bottom-line obsessed manufacturers, Vollers decided not to research the construction of fully and double-bent planes. Instead, he described his tordated surfaces as being constructed of straight lines with different rotations, because making these planes is much easier and cheaper than constructing fully bent planes. “But still, the expressive ability of the building form remains enormous,” Vollers says. “Everyone is able to use and expand this basic vocabulary.”

Vollers designed various tordated building models, eventually arriving at two main designs: the ‘tordo’ and the ‘twister’. The tordo has only one bent façade, the other sides remaining rectangular. The twister, on the other hand, is a fully twisted helix-look-alike with all façades turning in the same direction.

To shape the glass as desired, Vollers developed a flexible mould made of adjustable cylinders, on which flat glass plates can be bent. “Temperature is crucial during this shaping process,” Vollers explains. “The glass must be warm enough to bend, yet it mustn%t be dented by thecylinders.”

The profile’s aluminium frames must bend in the same way as the glass. Vollers solved this technical problem by redesigning an existing frame profile. The back, or stiff part, remains upright, while the part holding the glass rotates around it. The rotating part is so weak that it can be easily moulded and fastened by hand during construction.

To finally convince all parties of his invention’s worth, Vollers made a life-size façade model, which he’ll be exhibiting at the Building Fair. He’s also been granted a patent and expects the further development of his system to start booming. “Tordating profiles is the key to free façade designing,” the inventor predicts.

Now, at the faculty of Architecture, Vollers is focussing on the development of double-bent hardened glass. He hopes to build working relationships with other TU departments, such as mechanical engineering and informatics. Vollers: “I’m too proud to be willing to depend on what someone like Gehry is up to.”

Realising spectacular architectural projects is no longer the preserve of a handful of famous architects. Thanks to Architect Karel Jan Vollers’ ingenious new invention, everyone can now build their own Guggenheim, using glass.

Architect Karel Jan Vollers (49) has invented a cheaper way to build tordated glass facades than the methods currently used by celebrity architects, like Frank Gehry. Dr. Vollers has developed the world’s first method for creating twisted and bent façades. Last Tuesday, his invention earned him a PhD. This week, he’ll publicly unveil his invention at the Building Fair, in Utrecht

Vollers’ eyes were first opened to the amazing potentialities while visiting Brazil in 1986, where he was fascinated by Oscar Niemeyer’s work. Vollers: “Niemeyer could do special things because of the low wages paid to workers in South America then. Nowadays, by using computers, that should be possible in Europe too.”

Vollers began his research in 1992, quickly discovering that other people had had the same ideas. “Frank Gehry and Santiago Calatrava had already experimented with twisted buildings. And, of course, Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao brought bent surfaces to the world’s attention.”

Unlike his colleagues, Vollers didn’t opt for one-off projects. He wanted to create commercially available bent glass and window frames. However, as he was developing a completely new product that filled no current market niche, he couldn’t find a company willing to support his research. And architectural foundations provided no help either.

“The foundations thought it too technical,” Vollers says scornfully, “but there’s only one formula in the whole book! In fact, it’s an easily accessible method for all architects and designers. But that’s the problem in the Netherlands: technique is taboo. As soon as something looks like product development, it’s no longer deemed to be artistic and therefore it’s not architecture. That’s such a personal opinion, you can’t oppose such arguments.”

Flexible

With no other options, Vollers paid for the first six years of his research himself. In 1998, he began his PhD studies at the faculty of Architecture. In order not to scare off bottom-line obsessed manufacturers, Vollers decided not to research the construction of fully and double-bent planes. Instead, he described his tordated surfaces as being constructed of straight lines with different rotations, because making these planes is much easier and cheaper than constructing fully bent planes. “But still, the expressive ability of the building form remains enormous,” Vollers says. “Everyone is able to use and expand this basic vocabulary.”

Vollers designed various tordated building models, eventually arriving at two main designs: the ‘tordo’ and the ‘twister’. The tordo has only one bent façade, the other sides remaining rectangular. The twister, on the other hand, is a fully twisted helix-look-alike with all façades turning in the same direction.

To shape the glass as desired, Vollers developed a flexible mould made of adjustable cylinders, on which flat glass plates can be bent. “Temperature is crucial during this shaping process,” Vollers explains. “The glass must be warm enough to bend, yet it mustn%t be dented by thecylinders.”

The profile’s aluminium frames must bend in the same way as the glass. Vollers solved this technical problem by redesigning an existing frame profile. The back, or stiff part, remains upright, while the part holding the glass rotates around it. The rotating part is so weak that it can be easily moulded and fastened by hand during construction.

To finally convince all parties of his invention’s worth, Vollers made a life-size façade model, which he’ll be exhibiting at the Building Fair. He’s also been granted a patent and expects the further development of his system to start booming. “Tordating profiles is the key to free façade designing,” the inventor predicts.

Now, at the faculty of Architecture, Vollers is focussing on the development of double-bent hardened glass. He hopes to build working relationships with other TU departments, such as mechanical engineering and informatics. Vollers: “I’m too proud to be willing to depend on what someone like Gehry is up to.”

Editor Redactie

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