Ove Arup & Partners:
Expanding the limits of the possible
Founded by the brilliant engineer of Danish extraction Sir Ove Arup, the Ove Arup & Partners practice has been involved for over 55 years in many flagship projects all over the world, creating the perfect union between the creative idea and construction. What could be more self-evident than to find the name of Arup when we consider some major challenges. Sydney Opera House, the Georges Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Lloyds building or the Millennium Bridge in London, the structures of the Sony Center in Berlin, the Maritime Dome in Osaka and the International Arrivals terminal of JFK Airport in New York are just a few examples of the dynamic symbiosis between the work of the architect and that of the engineer.
Technology is revealed, becomes architecture and the spectator is overcome with emotion. But the work does not always consist of making the structure of a building apparent. And British critic Charles Jencks emphasises that a good engineer can possess this ability to broaden the scope of structural action while erasing its expression in favour of other architectural concepts. |
1 Maritime Museum, Osaka (2000)
Architect : Paul Andreu
A glass dome weighing 1200 tonnes, resistant to the wind and seismic problems.
2 Victoria & Albert Museum, Londres (livraison prévue en 2007)
Architect : Daniel Libeskind
An unprecedented structure in the form of a spire, combined with an amazing system of plates. |
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That is the case of Cecil Balmond, the head of Arup today. He is an engineer, mathematician, poet, musician, designer and writer all at the same time. Since his collaboration with James Irvine on the Neue Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart (1977), engineering has been able to move into a more sensitive area. Its informal conception of the possible variations of the structure, envisaged as a stage for unrestricted and bold experimentation, is behind the singular contribution by Cecil Balmond to the genesis of buildings that mark architecture at work.
”Uniformity is shattered, the equilibrium is broken”, he claims. Arup’s talent resides in the search for technical solutions that transcend the often complex artistic requirements. His centres of interest relate mainly to the creation of forms and the intimate links between science, art and music.
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For thirty years, the firm's theoretical research and collaboration with the greatest international architects, including Rem Koolhas, Daniel Libeskind, Ben van Berkel, Alvaro Siza, Toyo Ito, Shigeru Ban have led it to diversify its angles of approach. “arc en rêve – centre d’architecture" (Bordeaux) has just devoted a remarkable exhibition to it entitled “Informal, le génie du possible". A wide audience was able to approach the original workings of this unconventional personality.
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