Client: VakWerk BVBA - Ontwerp en Bouw van podia
Date: 10-12-2022
Contribution by G&SS: Feasibility study and final structural analysis

G&SS were contacted by VakWerk BVBA, Mathias Winkel, with a design for an abstract Tree composed of steel bars and node-connectors. VakWerk asked G&SS to make a structural safety analysis on for a temporarily installation of the Vakwerkboom, as it was named, on festivals and other large public gatherings. Mathias had already worked out a modular node-connector for the structure, which has been tested in the laboratory of the University of Leuven (Belgium). The resulting structural values were taking as starting points in the G&SS calculations. The design was adapted to remove the need for ballast or ground-anchors. Besides the windforces acting on the structure also the climbing of various people in the Vakwerkboom was considered as a possible loadcase.

The Vakwerkboom was illuminated at night by strings of lightbulbs and decorated with fine mesh nets representing the foliage.