Samyn grew up within the Belgian countryside, the place his father was a mechanical engineer and his mom was a painter. With a love for each artwork and math, he studied structural engineering, graduating from the Free College of Brussels in 1971. He visited MIT on a backpacking journey and was instantly drawn to its deal with considering past concrete. Arriving for a grasp’s in civil engineering, he embraced a philosophy of inventive problem-solving. “The academics would say the phrase ‘downside’ doesn’t exist—there are simply questions. And questions have solutions,” he says.
Samyn utilized that perspective to emphasise environment friendly use of assets. “I hate misplaced cash,” he says. In 1997, he developed a approach to optimize the form and power of supplies to face up to load and forces resembling wind with out utilizing any extra—a formulation that has turn into business customary.
Samyn’s designs over a long time replicate site-specific structure in motion, from the majestic glass and metal of the European Council headquarters in Brussels to the austere polygonal form of the Princess Elisabeth polar analysis base in Antarctica, which encompasses a novel envelope of woolen felt, plastic foam, and chrome steel to guard in opposition to excessive winds and subzero temperatures. When a design for a Chinese language port mission omitted parking, Samyn designed a slender tower to stack 25 ranges of automobiles; the tower is now thought of a landmark.
Regardless of this vary of modern designs, Samyn doesn’t hesitate when requested to choose his favourite: “The following one,” he says. “I forbid myself to look again. Each mission is a brand new journey.”
