Etude Alde lends its expertise to the Anglet Art Biennial

The consulting engineering firm based at the Arkinova Business Generator contributed to the installation of three works for La Littorale #7, the contemporary art biennial held in Anglet from 24 August to 04 November.   

For its seventh year, La Littorale is displaying work by eleven international artists for an artistic journey around the Chambre d'Amour in Anglet. La Littorale #7 is an outdoor exhibition featuring free access to one-of-a-kind ephemeral works, most of which have been created in situ.

The Etudes Alde team was entrusted with preparing structural assessment documents for the three works made from wood: Love Tower by Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata, built over the cave at Chambre d'Amour; the wooden structure, A Structure for Sharing, by American artists Jay Nelson and Rachel Kaye installed at the base of the cliffs at Petite Chambre d'Amour; and the decorative mast erected by the City of Anglet near the solarium.

"We were commissioned by the City of Anglet's technical department to assess the supporting structures for the three works. We were responsible for confirming the safety and soundness of each work and recommending certain reinforcements to the artists," explains Alexandre Blot, the manager of Etudes Alde, a consulting engineering firm based at the Arkinova Technology Park since February 2017.

Etudes Alde is one of only the few consulting engineering firms on the Basque coast that specialises in wood. Founded in 2014 by Alexandre Blot, an engineer who graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers, the consulting engineering firm also employs Sébastien Baconnais, a designer specialised in wooden structures who has been with the firm for one year. Since September, the company has also welcomed Pierre Vanot, a work-study student in a "wooden construction" vocational degree programme at Lycée Haroun Tazieff in Saint-Paul-Lès-Dax.

Website: etudesalde.com