Erik Reitzel (10 May 1941 – 6 February 2012) was a Danish civil engineer who started work in 1964 and was for many years a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and at the Technical University of Denmark, in the disciplines of bearing structures and structural design.
His research enabled him to discover the fundamental correlation between fracture, minimal structures and growth. This discovery makes it possible to obtain considerable savings in construction materials. Erik Reitzel is the author of books and articles on the outcomes of his research and on their practical application.
Several prizes have been awarded to Erik Reitzel in Denmark and abroad for his research and work on architectural minimal structures, as well as for interesting and original solutions to major engineering projects. It was for this reason that he was awarded the Légion d’honneur at the request of French President François Mitterrand. In 1988 he was awarded the Nykredit Architecture Prize.
Since 1971, Erik Reitzel, in partnership with his wife Inge Reitzel, has been a consultant engineer.
With various architects, he has participated in competitions and won several prizes, for example:
The New Parliament (Riksdag) in Stockholm, 1972Grande Arche in Paris, 1983; originally planned as an International Communications CentreThe urban plan for Husarviken, in Stockholm, 1988The Danish Pavilion at Expo 92 in Seville, 1989Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, DenmarkVästra City in Stockholm, 1997He has designed constructions in collaboration with various companies, cf. [1] for example:
Grande Arche in ParisThe lift tower for Grande ArcheAn exhibition platform in the Louvre, ParisThe lattice dome for Cambridge Crystallographic Data CentreChurch at Gammel Holte (Denmark)The glass pyramid for the House of Industry in CopenhagenA spiral-shaped bridge in the Sophienholm Park, at Kongens Lyngby (Denmark)A greenhouse built like a meccano system at Virum (Denmark)The quasi crystal structure for the Technical University of DenmarkThe Symbolic Globe at UNESCO, ParisThe royal bridge on Esrum Lake (Denmark)The transport over 2 kilometres of the Terminal VL 39 building from the Kastrup Airport to Maglebylille (Denmark)The Symbolic Globe UNESCO Publishing, Paris 2006. ISBN 92-3-104028-6 and ISBN 978-92-3-104028-3Structural Design of tall Buildings with a minimal Risk of Collapse CIB-CTBUH Proceedings to the international conference on Tall Buildings 2003, Kuala Lumpur, Publication 290, 2003. ISBN 9834128304The Society seen through a Civil Engineer’s Glasses Danish Civil and Structural Science and Engineering. 2003. ISBN 8798988700Fra sæbebobler til store bygninger (from soap bubbles to great buildings) chapter in VIDENSKABERFREMTIDEN, Villum Kann Rasmussen Fonden og Experimentarium 2003. ISBN 8798928503Hur Nya Former Kan Uppstå (on designing new structures) Arkitekttidningen nr. 9, Stockholm 2001Les forces dont resultent quelques monuments Parisiens de la Fin du XXe siècle LE POUVOIR ET LA VILLE À L’ÉPOQUE MODERNE ET CONTEMPORAINE, Sorbonne 2001. ISBN 2747526100De la rupture à la structure Colloque franco-danois sur Représentation de l'espace, répartition dans l'espace - sur différentes manières d'habiter, 2000. ISBN 8798781707Grundtræk af Bærende Konstruktioner i Arkitekturen (Bearing structures in Architecture) together with the architect Hans Friis Mathiasen, Kunstakademiets Arkitektskoles Forlag, 1999. ISBN 8787136260Tectonics in Practice Communication at the European conference, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, 1996Musikk og Konstruktjoner (Music and Structures) Article in the book: Tversnit av et Øjeblik, Oslo 1992. ISBN 8254701032Rupture - Structure Conférence internationale sur l'Ingénieur et l'Art, Aix-en-Provence, France, 1991Konkurrence om Tête Défense, Paris, og projektets videre bearbejdning (the competition on Tête Défense) Arkitekten no 23, 1984Le Cube ouvert. Structures and foundations International conference on tall buildings. Singapore, 1984. ISBN 9971840421Spild og ressourcer (waste and resources) The National Museum of Denmark, 1980. ISBN 8748002763Fra brud til form (From Fracture to Form) Polyteknisk Forlag, 1979. ISBN 8750204939Tusindårig tradition (about the church of Gammel Holte) Ingeniøren no 49,1978Energi, boliger, byggeri together with the architect Hans Friis Mathiasen, Fremad 1975. ISBN 8755705995Om materialeøkonomiske konstruktioner og brudlinier (minimal structures and fracture lines) Bygningsstatiske meddelelser no 2, 1975Materialeøkonomiske Konstruktioner (Minimal Structures), Arkitekten no 21, 1971The Invisible Forces (55 minutes) producer: JJ – Film. Premiere in Paris 2002, arte 2006La Sonate de la Rupture (7 minutes) producer: JJ-Film, 2000