Beer De Staalman

This 10 m high statue of a teddy bear is made of concrete sprayed against a frame of steel rebar. Summum Engineering’s Diederik Veenendaal, while working at Witteveen+Bos, processed the three-dimensional geometry to determine centre of mass and surface area for wind loads for subsequent structural analysis by Frank van Woesik.

Beer De Staalman (Bear The Steelman) was originally an initiative of students of local schools near to the Staalmanpark, conceived during an earlier arts- and designproject. The design for the sculpture was made by artist Florentijn Hofman and Job Saltzherr of JobArt managed its realization. Heddes Bouw made and sponsored the pedestal. The bear was made by spraying concrete onto a backstop suspended from a frame of steel rebar. Its surface was finished using a natural mineral, silica-based paint with anti-graffiti coating. The sculpture was made possible by contributions of the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, the – now defunct – Stichting Kunst en Openbare Ruimte, Cirque du Soleil, de Alliantie and the local city district, Stadsdeel Nieuw-West.

Read more on the official website.

Florentijn Hofman | Artist
JobArt | Contractor
Heddes Bouw | Contractor pedestal
Grouttech | Contractor concrete spraying
KEIM | Supplier mineral paint
Frank van Woesik, Diederik Veenendaal, Hans Laagland | Witteveen+Bos | Structural engineering