The writings of Belgian engineer Arthur Vierendeel (1852-1940): homo universalis or contemporary propagandist?

During the last decade of the nineteenth century, Belgian engineer and professor Arthur Vierendeel - mostly known for the Vierendeel, a frame without diagonal rigidifying elements - published a series of books in which he expounded his views on the use of steel in architecture and engineering. Vierendeel described the structural possibilities of constructing in iron, and also theorized how this ‘new’ material should capture its own architectural style. Structural aesthetics is derived from rivets, proportions, tie rods, columns and covering strips whereas auxiliary aesthetics can be created through adding ceramics, other metals and decorative painting. Formal issues had to surpass structural considerations, or in Vierendeel’s words: “Pour les constructions métalliques les dimensions doivent être déterminées à priori par des considérations esthétiques et qu’après seulement il y a lieu de recourir à la formule mathématique.

Charles Marcellis and Arthur Vierendeel: a century of Belgian bridge building (1835-1940)

The Belgian bridge builders Charles Marcellis (1798-1864) and Arthur Vierendeel (1852-1940) were jack-of-all-trades in the 19th century, but both were mostly known as bridge designers, trying to have a grip on new structural possibilities. Though the mechanical behaviour of their bridges is very different, Tom Peters already noticed the visual resemblances between Marcellis' girder and box bridges made out of pierced cast-iron plates (1835-1860) and Vierendeel's development of the bridge type named after him (1890-1940). The non-simultaneous yet very similar evolution of these two characters is a duet with consonants and dissonances. Marcellis was an industrialist whereas Vierendeel was an engineer, professor and self-made art critic. Marcellis had imported the idea of cast-iron girder and box bridges from England (e.g. from Fairbairn and Stephenson) and he did not shrink from calling this a Belgian system to erect bridges. Vierendeel on the other hand, after having seen bridge collapses where the diagonals were hardly deformed, developed a simplified arithmetic method to calculate a beam that consists only of a series of rectangular frames, a system that still finds use in design problems today. This recurring pattern of engineering feats is the connecting thread between Marcellis and Vierendeel in this paper. Within a time frame of 100 years both men stood in a fascinating period on new materials (transition from cast iron to steel) and new calculation methods (transition from elementary formulas and trial-and-error testing to full understanding of secondary stresses and mechanical behaviour of materials)

Development of the Vierendeel : calculation, aesthetics, welding, concrete

The Vierendeel is a frame with rigid joints patented in 1896 by Belgian engineer Arthur Vierendeel (1852-1940). His invention came about after he noticed that experiments and calculation methods on iron and steel frameworks didn't agree, making his invention a response in the then discussion on secondary stresses. After designing a church tower and testing a full-scale bridge model during the 1897 Brussels World Fair, many bridges 'système Vierendeel' were erected the following decades in his homeland, as well as a few dozens around the globe. At times the discussion on the Vierendeel got heated in trade journals and amongst people, mainly due to a lack of 'visual' safety and theoretical uncertainties concerning calculation, safety factors and welding techniques. Nowadays the Vierendeel principle is still topical and many (structural) designers apply his formal ideas. This led to a broader meaning of the word Vierendeel varying from aesthetic to strictly structural

De ontwikkeling van buisvormige profielen in staal

Vanaf de jaren 1920-1930 wordt lassen een courante verbindingstechniek voor staal. Deze ontwikkeling leidt tot een goedkopere vervaardiging van stalen buizen waarvan de goede structurele en vormelijke eigenschappen er mede voor zorgen dat er een groeiende interesse ontstaat voor dit bouwelement in (tijdelijke) architectuur. Dit artikel bespreekt aan de hand van in België gebouwde of gepubliceerde casestudy’s de evolutie van buisvormige stalen profielen in de 20ste eeuw

Past and present characteristics of Vierendeel's poutre à arcades

The Vierendeel is a frame with rigid joints patented in 1896 by Belgian engineer Arthur Vierendeel (1852-1940). His invention came about after he noticed that experiments and calculation methods on iron and steel frameworks didn’t agree, making his invention a response in the then discussion on secondary stresses. After designing a church tower and testing a fullscale bridge model during the 1897 Brussels World Fair, many bridges ‘système Vierendeel’ were erected the following decades in his homeland, as well as a few dozens around the globe. At times the discussion on the Vierendeel got heated in trade journals and amongst people, mainly due to a lack of ‘visual’ safety and theoretical uncertainties concerning calculation, safety factors and welding techniques. Nowadays the Vierendeel principle is still topical and many (structural) designers apply his formal ideas. This led to a broader meaning of the word Vierendeel varying from aesthetic to strictly structural

Constructief vernuft en sociale fijnzinnigheid in een kleurrijk ontwerp: de hoogbouw van Willy Van Der Meeren voor Ieder Zijn Huis in Evere (1952-1961)

Tussen 1950 en 1970 realiseert architect en meubelontwerper Willy Van Der Meeren enkele opmerkelijke gebouwen voor de gemeente Evere. Naast het beschermde Van Ooteghemgebouw en 128 ouderenwoningen gebaseerd op zijn beroemde CECA-huis bouwt hij tussen het kerkhof van Brussel en de Leuvensesteenweg een hoogbouw voor de sociale huisvestingsmaatschappij Ieder Zijn Huis. In deze zeldzame Brusselse verwezenlijking van het CIAM-gedachtegoed toont Van Der Meeren een grote bekommernis om de sociale rol van architectuur. Als geboren constructeur alsmede door zijn studietijd bij Louis-Herman De Koninck en Victor Bourgeois komt hij tot een ontwerp dat rond 3 speerpunten is opgebouwd: het doorgedreven bouwen met geprefabriceerde en gemoduleerde elementen, de toepassing van het Corbusiaanse plan libre voor het ontwerp van de appartementen en het gebruik van kleur in de talrijke gemeenschappelijke ruimtes

Intelligence architecturale et subtilité sociale dans un projet haut en couleur: l'immeuble de Willy Van Der Meeren pour Ieder Zijn Huis à Evere (1952-1961)

Entre 1950 et 1970, l’architecte et créateur de meubles Willy Van Der Meeren réalise une série d’immeubles remarquables pour la commune d’Evere. Outre l’immeuble Van Ooteghem, un bâtiment classé, et les 128 habitations pour le troisième âge basées sur sa célèbre maison CECA, il construit, entre le cimetière de Bruxelles et la chaussée de Louvain, un immeuble pour la société de logements sociaux Ieder Zijn Huis. Dans cette singulière expression bruxelloise de la pensée du CIAM, Van Der Meeren fait preuve d’un grand souci du rôle social de l’architecture. Bâtisseur né, fort d’une formation auprès de Louis-Herman De Koninck et de Victor Bourgeois, il développe un concept reposant sur trois grands principes : la construction systématique à l’aide d’éléments préfabriqués et modulaires, la mise en oeuvre du plan libre corbusien pour la conception d’appartements et l’utilisation de la couleur dans les nombreux espaces collectifs

'Jusqu'où s'étendra l'emploi du fer en architecture?': 19th and 20th century discourses on the use of iron in architecture

The use of iron in architecture - thus in the built environment - has been in both the 19th and the 20th century the subject of discussions by architects, engineers, art historians, philosophers and writers. Through analysis of a series of texts written by architects and engineers - the Belgian engineer Arthur Vierendeel in particular - this paper tries to point out they were concerned with the way future architecture should look like and which aesthetic possibilities iron could assign to it