The sculpture is located on the roundabout where Boulevard Général Wahis, Chaussée de Louvain, Avenue Rogier and Boulevard Auguste Reyers meet, near the Meiser tram stop. This area is a gateway to Brussels, a transit area for thousands of motorists and for public transport. The roundabout is currently devoid of interest, yet it has an important place in the urban fabric because it is very exposed to the flow of cars and because it is in the background of several long boulevards and avenues. I’m proposing a sculpture that embraces the flows that pass through and around it. The shape of the sculpture responds to the scale of the surrounding buildings, rising where the buildings are tallest and vice versa. The avenues and boulevards leading off the roundabout correspond to the concave parts of the shape. The sculpture therefore derives from the place where it is located.
I used the design analogy of a rollercoaster to give the project a playful, dynamic feel. The compositional work presents a shape that changes as you turn around it, revealing more or less superimposed curves, the transparency of which gives a vibration to the movement, a shape that comes alive when you cross it in a tram, with oblique lines that accentuate the sensation of speed, and a different shape for each point of view. The reduced-scale prototype consists of a tubular profile cut in sequence to curve it, with perpendicular bars holding the profile in position. Together they cast a shadow that deforms the sculpture according to the lighting and sunlight. The interplay of shadows creates a continually changing work.
