Erik Reitzel 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. http://www.eri.dk.

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

François Mitterrand

François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...

.

Since 1971, Erik Reitzel, in partnership with his wife Inge Reitzel, has been a consultant engineer.

First prize projects

With various architects, he has participated in competitions and won several prizes, for example:

• The New Parliament (Riksdag) in Stockholm, 1972
• Grande Arche
  Grande Arche
  La Grande Arche de la Défense is a monument and building in the business district of La Défense and in the commune of Puteaux, to the west of Paris, France...
  
   in Paris, 1983; originally planned as an International Communications Centre
• The urban plan for Husarviken, in Stockholm, 1988
• The Danish Pavilion at Expo 92 in Seville, 1989
• Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark
• Västra City in Stockholm, 1997

Realised projects

He has designed constructions in collaboration with various companies, cf. http://www.eri.dk for example:

• Grande Arche
  Grande Arche
  La Grande Arche de la Défense is a monument and building in the business district of La Défense and in the commune of Puteaux, to the west of Paris, France...
  
   in Paris
• The lift tower for Grande Arche
• An exhibition platform in the Louvre, Paris
• The lattice dome for Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre
• Church at Gammel Holte (Denmark)
• The glass pyramid for the House of Industry in Copenhagen
• A 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 Denmark
• The Symbolic Globe
  The Symbolic Globe
  The Symbolic Globe is a monument, since November 1995 situated on the piazza of UNESCO in Paris, surrounded by the flags of all nations, pointing out that this is the headquarters of the international organization. The Symbolic Globe was originally conceived for the United Nations Summit on Social...
  
  at UNESCO, Paris
• The royal bridge on Esrum Lake (Denmark)
• The transport over 2 kilometres of the Terminal VL 39 building from the Kastrup Airport to Maglebylille (Denmark)

Publications

• The Symbolic Globe UNESCO Publishing, Paris 2006. ISBN 92-3-104028-6 and ISBN 978-92-3-104028-3
• Structural Design of tall Buildings with a minimal Risk of Collaps CIB-CTBUH Proceedings to the international conference on Tall Buildings 2003, Kuala Lumpur, Publication 290, 2003. ISBN : 983-41283-0-4
• The Society seen through a Civil Engineer’s Glasses Danish Civil and Structural Science and Engineering. 2003. ISBN : 87-989887-0-0
• Fra sæbebobler til store bygninger (from soap bubbles to great buildings) chapter in VIDENSKABERFREMTIDEN, Villum Kann Rasmussen Fonden og Experimentarium 2003. ISBN : 87-989285-0-3
• Hur Nya Former Kan Uppstå (on designing new structures) Arkitekttidningen nr. 9, Stockholm 2001
• Les 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 : 2-7475-2610-0
• De la rupture à la structure Colloque franco-danois sur Représentation de l'espace, répartition dans l'espace - sur différentes manières d'habiter, 2000. ISBN : 87-987817-0-7
• Grundtræk af Bærende Konstruktioner i Arkitekturen (Bearing structures in Architecture) together with the architect Hans Friis Mathiasen, Kunstakademiets Arkitektskoles Forlag, 1999. ISBN : 87-87136-26-0
• Tectonics in Practice Communication at the European conference, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, 1996
• Musikk og Konstruktjoner (Music and Structures) Article in the book: Tversnit av et Øjeblik, Oslo 1992. ISBN : 82-547-0103-2
• Rupture - Structure Conférence internationale sur l'Ingénieur et l'Art, Aix-en-Provence, France, 1991
• Konkurrence om Tête Défense, Paris, og projektets videre bearbejdning (the competition on Tête Défense) Arkitekten no 23, 1984
• Le Cube ouvert. Structures and foundations International conference on tall buildings. Singapore, 1984. ISBN : 9971-84-042-1
• Spild og ressourcer (waste and resources) The National Museum of Denmark, 1980. ISBN : 87-480-0276-3
• Fra brud til form (From Fracture to Form) Polyteknisk Forlag, 1979. ISBN : 87-502-0493-9
• Tusindårig tradition (about the church of Gammel Holte) Ingeniøren no 49,1978
• Energi, boliger, byggeri together with the architect Hans Friis Mathiasen, Fremad 1975. ISBN : 87-557-0599-5
• Om materialeøkonomiske konstruktioner og brudlinier (minimal structures and fracture lines) Bygningsstatiske meddelelser no 2, 1975
• Materialeøkonomiske Konstruktioner (Minimal Structures), Arkitekten no 21, 1971

Film

• The Invisible Forces (55 minutes) producer: JJ – Film. Premiere in Paris 2002, arte 2006
• La Sonate de la Rupture (7 minutes) producer: JJ-Film, 2000

External links

• http://www.grandearche.com/tourisme/le-monument.html
• http://www.eri.dk
• http://www.unesco.org/visit/uk/notices/reitzel.htm
• http://www.jjfilm.dk/produktioner/dokumentar/de_usynlige_kraefter/
• http://kubaba.univ-paris1.fr/auteurs/n_o_p_q_r_s/reitzel.htm