About the internship and Voxdale

In 2015, after my Erasmus exchange was over in Genk, Belgium, I decided to broaden my horizons even further by gaining some work experience in this country.
After some search, I met with Bart Verleije, who offered me the opportunity to help out at Voxdale with one of their projects.

Voxdale is a design, engineering and research agency that focuses on innovation, concept generation and the development of systems and products. (www.voxdale.be)

They work on projects that are in connection with aero- and hydrodynamics.

About the project

Voxdale is part of an open innovation centre called Flanders Bike Valley. The goal of this biking sector consortium was to create a common aerodynamic research facility that could host a large wind tunnel for conducting live measurements.

Apart from being an industrial site, Bike Valley wanted to make its new building into a tourist attraction that could receive thousands of visitors each year. 

Therefore, my task was to make the scientific-industrial facility appealing for tourists and create an aesthetic covering for the planned wind-tunnel.

I started by mapping out the host building and its surroundings. The tunnel would be around 30 meters long, and around three floors high, so a pretty large machine.

After mapping the surroundings of the proposed building, I could start focusing on the possible flows of visitors. I tried to make scenarios of how people could go around and try out the tunnel.

I also made concepts of covering elements. My intention was to intensely highlight the functional parts of the tunnel instead of wrapping it up with a full cover.

For each stage of the ​​​​​​​visit, I planned different atmospheres the building could provide for its visitors. The exterior would reflect the greenness of cycling, the tunnel would show the seriousness of rocket science, and then the visitor café would bring an element of fun into this.

This segmentation resulted in the concept of “the Bike Valley Experience”.

The metal framework that would have held the tunnel had numerous legs for support. I found these were ruining the aerodynamic and functional shape of the machine, so I started making concepts that could eliminate them.

This is how the idea of the “bridge” emerged. One, that would support the tunnel only at the two ends of it, leaving a large space underneath. This resulting space could be used for large events later on.

The bridge-like structure could hold the machine on a few stronger legs, and the curve of the support could follow the dynamic shape of the tunnel.
Underneath the influx, there would be enough space for a storage room as well.

The final tunnel with the opening ceremony being held underneath it (thanks to the space the structure provides).