Labyrinth

The Labyrinth is installed at the C-mine Arts Centre in Genk, Belgium and created by multidisciplinary design practice Gijs Van Vaerenbergh. The industrial-looking installation measures 37.5 by 37.5 metres and consists of 1 kilometre of walls (186 tons) made out of steel plates that are 5 mm thick, 1.5 metres large and 5 metres high.

A series of voids were formed using Boolean transformations, which involve intersecting three-dimensional volumes in a digital modelling programme and using their edges to cut shapes out from each other. Figures, including spheres, cylinders and cones, have been cut out from the box-like structure's walls, forming larger open spaces within the maze and gaps in the vertical surfaces.

Bollinger+Grohmann accompanied the architects from the earliest concept design phase until the construction, exploring multiple options and technical solutions. The research and exchanges on using different materials (wood, prefabricated corrugated iron, thicker steel plates, etc.) led to the final draft. The office was in charge of the structure, verifying the distortion, stress and overall stability due to various wind load cases and developing customised technical solutions for welding, fixing steel plates to the ground, and stiffening elements.

A series of thin steel tubes connect plate heads for a better horizontal overall rigidity; stiffeners consist of flat steel 10 centimetres wide and 5 millimetres thick, mainly required to reinforce plate heads in cut-out areas.