Hasta La Ideas

French artist Olivier Grossetête used three enormous helium balloons to float a rope bridge over a lake in Tatton Park, a historic estate in north-west England.

Oliver Grossetête created Pont de Singe, which means “monkey bridge”, for the Tatton Park Biennial, which this year was themed around flight.

Located in the park’s Japanese garden, the structure comprised a long rope bridge made of cedar wood held aloft by three helium-filled balloons. The ends of the bridge were left to trail in the water.

Though visitors weren’t allowed to use the bridge, it would theoretically be strong enough to hold the weight of a person, according to Grossetête.

Replacing the usual foundations and joints of a bridge with three balloons leads us to question our perceptions, the artist explained. ”My artistic work tries to make alive the poetry and dreams within our everyday life,” added Grossetête.

The artist had previously experimented with another floating bridge in his 2007 project Pont Suspendu, where he used a cluster of helium balloons to float a small bridge structure into the air.

Balloons have appeared in a number of projects we’ve featured on Dezeen, including a proposal for a transport network of enormous floating balloons and a bench that appears to be held up by bunches of balloons at each end.

We’ve also featured lots of unusual bridges on Dezeen, such as a wobbling wire bridge designed to span the Seine in Paris and a sunken bridge in a moat that brings the water up to a pedestrian’s eye level.

See all our stories about balloons »
See all our stories about bridges »

Photographs are by Wilf and Duncan Hull.

The post Pont de Singe bridge
by Olivier Grossetête appeared first on Dezeen.

This 60 metre-long metal bridge is a route for heating and power pipes, rather than people.

Designed by London architects MJP, the stainless steel tunnel connects the combined heat and power plant (CHP) at the University of Birmingham’s main site with a campus across the railway tracks and canal.

Small perforations create a pattern of wavy lines on the bridge’s exterior, while the steel surface has a brushed finish that reduces glare for train drivers below.

The new CHP supply will decrease the University’s carbon footprint by approximately 1500 tonnes per year.

We’ve also featured another interesting University energy facility – click to read about an energy centre with diamond-shaped aluminium scales.

Photography is by Simon Kennedy.

Here’s a description from MJP:

Steam on at the University of Birmingham

The newly completed Steambridge is a key component of a forward-looking major programme to refurbish and extend the University of Birmingham’s combined heat and power (CHP) network. The site of the new bridge is at the West Gate of the University and marks the entrance to the Edgbaston Campus. MJP Architects have designed the curved 2k finished, laser cut, Grade 316 stainless cladding for a very long service life with zero cleaning and maintenance.

Liz Pride, MJP’s Director of Education and the University’s Development Plan Architect says,

“It’s in a very prominent location at the main West Gate entrance to the University’s campus and right opposite the entrance to University Station. It’s also quite a feature seen from the canal below. The elegant design of the cladding makes an inherently utilitarian feature interesting and attractive: it highlights the University’s real commitment to CHP and carbon reduction.”

Steam is Green

The University has an in-house combined heat and power (CHP) station, and a remote site at the Medical School on the opposite side of the Worcester & Birmingham Canal and the busy railway lines. The Steambridge links these two parts of the campus.

David Drew M&E Manager at the University of Birmingham says:

“The success of the bridge is that it reduces our carbon footprint by in excess of 1,500 tonnes of carbon per year and gives us a vastly improved security of supply”.

Kevin George CPW Building Services says:

It’s an impressive structure and the reaction that people have had has been amazing. People arriving at the University get off the train and they stop, look over and say ‘wow what’s that?’ – To get people to go ‘wow’ for a services project is a really great thing”.

The campus wide CHP network is a very sustainable method of providing for the future power needs of the University as local power generation, is significantly more efficient than the national grid and therefore reduces the University’s carbon dioxide outputs campus wide.

Glamour Brought to Infrastructure

The Steam Pipe Bridge is designed as an elegant, sinuous sculptural form, ‘flowing’ across the canal and railway lines. The curved silver cladding reflects the colours of the trees and water, whilst the rippling slots enliven its surface.

Birmingham and the West Midlands are UK centres of industry and the bridge uses aeronautical, transport and engineering imagery in its design, to reflect its location at the University of Birmingham and to illustrate its purpose. Reza Schuster Director MJP Architects says:

“It’s not just a pipe, it has the flattened ends and curved profile of the trains that run underneath it and the front of the bridge has the shape of an intake of an airliner turbofan nacelle. I like to think that the sinuous curves in the metallic surface describe the flow of steam from one side of the bridge to the other”.

Off-Site Construction

The 60 metre long superstructure was pre-clad off-site, transported by road in two spans, and installed with military precision during a five hour overnight line closure. The cladding panels were fabricated in Holland by Sorba Projects and their detail design was the result of a close and creative collaboration between MJP Architects, the University and the specialist subcontractor.

Client: University of Birmingham Estates Department

Project Team
Architect: MJP Architects
Project Manager: Couch Perry Wilkes
Contract Administrator: Robinson Low Francis
Structural Engineer: Couch Consulting Engineers
Services Engineer: Couch Perry Wilkes
Quantity Surveyor: Robinson Low Francis
CDM Coordinator: Robinson Low Francis

Contractor Team
Main Contractor: Volker FitzPatrick
Cladding Subcontractor: Sorba Projects
M&E Subcontractor: D&I Building Services

Photographer Roland Halbe has sent us some new images of the Sheikh Zayed Bridge in Abu Dhabi by Zaha Hadid Architects.

Construction of the 842 metre-long bridge between Abu Dhabi Island and the mainland completed earlier this year.

The structure comprises several arching waves of reinforced concrete, which support a four-lane highway.

Coloured lights illuminate the bridge after dark.

Zaha Hadid Architects have completed a number of projects this year, including the London 2012 Aquatics Centre and the zigzagging Riverside Museum in Glasgow – read more about Zaha Hadid here.

Here’s some text from the architects:

Sheikh Zayed Bridge

The UAE has a highly mobile society that requires a new route around the Gulf south shore, connecting the three Emirates together. In 1967 a steel arch bridge was built to connect the fledgling city of Abu Dhabi island to the mainland, followed by a second bridge built in the seventies, connecting downstream at the south side of Abu Dhabi Island. The location of the new (third) Gateway Crossing, close to the first bridge, is critical in the develop- ment and completion of the highway system. Conceived in an open setting, the bridge has the prospect of becoming a destination in itself and potential catalyst in the future urban growth of Abu Dhabi.

A collection, or strands of structures, gathered on one shore, are lifted and ‘propelled’ over the length of the channel. A sinusoidal waveform provides the structural silhouette shape across the channel.
The mainland is the launch pad for the bridge structure emerging from the ground and approach road. The Road decks are cantilevered on each side of the spine structure. Steel arches rise and spring from mass concrete piers asymmetrically, in length, between the road decks to mark the mainland and the navigation channels. The spine splits and splays from one shore along the central void position, diverging under the road decks to the outside of the roadways at the other end of the bridge.

The main bridge arch structure rises to a height of 60 m above water level with the road crowning to a height of 20 metres above mean water level.

PROGRAM: 2 ways four lane highway bridge to Abu Dhabi island
CLIENT: Abu Dhabi Municipality

ARCHITECT: Zaha Hadid Architects
Design: Zaha Hadid
Project Architect: Graham Modlen
Project Team: Garin O’Aivazian, Zahira Nazer, Christos Passas, Sara Klomps, Steve Power
Project Engineer: Joe Barr, Mike King, Mike Davies Highpoint Rendel [Abu Dhabi, UAE]

CONSULTANTS:
Structure: Rendel Palmer Tritton [London, UK] Lighting: Hollands Licht [Amsterdam, Netherlands]

DIMENSIONS: 842m long, 64m high, 61m wide
MATERIALS: Piers, Decking: Reinforced Concrete Arches: Steel

See also:

.

China Bridge by Denton Corker Marshall	Can Gili Footbridge by Alfa Polaris	Nanhe River Bridge by WXY Architecture

Ribbons of mesh spiral around two conical bridges by French architect Dominique Perrault that cross a river and park in Madrid.

One part of the 278-metre-long footbridge crosses the Manzaranes River, whilst the second bridges the Arganzuela Park, beneath which the city ring road is buried.

The two steel-framed cones meet at the peak of a hill inside the park but are separated by a snaking footpath.

The footbridge connects two residential neighbourhoods and provides a route for both pedestrians and cyclists.

Lights hanging from the branches of tree-like lamp posts illuminate the bridge after dark.

Above: photograph is © Ayuntamiento de Madrid

The Pasarela del Arganzuela opened to the public in April, as did the park designed by landscape architects West 8 and other architects.

Above: photograph is by Gaelle Lauriot Prevost

Other pedestrian footbridges in Spain recently published on Dezeen include a looping bridge over a busy road and a bridge connected to an outdoor elevator – see all our stories about bridges here.

Above: photograph is © Ayuntamiento de Madrid

Photography is by Arteuno, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here are some more details from Perrault:

The Arganzuela footbridge, designed by Dominique Perrault in the very heart of Madrid.

Forming a major element in the new urban strategy for the city named “Madrid Rio”, the Arganzuela Footbridge, first civil engineering work by the architect, is already called “the jewel of the Rio” by the residents.

In the 1970’s, the M30 ring road, running along the both edges of the river Manzaranes, was an important boundary in the urban network of the city. In 2000, the City Council of Madrid launched a major project for the urban redevelopment of the Manzaranes banks: Madrid Rio.

To begin with, the city council hid the M30 highway, burying it 25 metres below the river the banks.

In 2005, the disappearance of the ring road allowed for an international urban planning competition for the redevelopment of the Manzaranes banks. This competition, won by the group of architects M-RIO, offered a new territory to the inhabitants:the Arganzuela Park. This future 23 hectare park, to be inaugurated in April, will become a substantial urban mesh of the city.

In parallel with its realisation, the city council appointed Dominique Perrault to construct a footbridge over the Manzaranes river, creating a link between the two banks.

Here, Dominique Perrault has created an original and technical architectural icon for this new territory.Over 250 meters long, the Arganzuela footbridge is located between the historic Toledo bridge and the Praga bridge which leads to the cultural centre of the capital. It links the Arganzuela and Carabanchel neighbourhoods.

Designed for pedestrians and cyclists, the footbridge consists of two metallic cones. It allows the passage of people from one side of the park to the other while also providing one of a the main entrances to the park below. The park, which hides some of the buried highway’s technical infrastructures, has an irregular topography. Playing with that topography, the two cones join above the curve of a hill, and are offset to create a new entrance point to the park.

The first cone – to the south – spans from the Avenida de Manzaranes, crosses over the river and then joins the top of the hill.

Placed offset to the first cone, the second cone – to the north–passes over the other side of the park to reach the Paseo de Yeserias. This positioning creates a platform over the park and the surrounding city, and an exceptional vantage point from which to admire the famous Toledo Bridge.

The footbridge is impressive in its dimensions. The south cone is 150 metres long and the north cone is 128 metres long,and their diameter varies from 5 to 12 metres from one end to the other.Each cone rests upon two pillars laid at each end, giving the impression that the footbridge is floating in the air.Made in steel, the self supporting main structure has two interlocking metal spirals that cross diagonally. A silver ribbon,made of metallic mesh, wraps this structure and protects the users from the sun and the bad weather. “Sewn” like a spiral,this ribbon creates a rhythmic and dynamic line to the Arganzuela Park.

The metallic mesh, favoured material of the architect, transforms and changes the footbridge depending on the time of the day: it alternates between filtering, reflective and opaque. Shaded during the day, the promenade becomes luminous at night, like a lantern. It’s impossible to capture all those visual possibilities in one single glimpse, as the metallic mesh turns the footbridge into a living object.

Above: photograph is by Gaelle Lauriot Prevost

Located in a strategic point of the city, the footbridge improves the urban connections between the northern and southern neighbourhoods of Madrid. By taking advantage of the site’s drawbacks, Dominique Perrault creates a new place for gathering,resting and admiring the city. For the city council, the Arganzuela footbridge is becoming an architectural event for the city and a powerful urban landmark.

Client: Madrid City Council, Madrid, Spain
Engineering: MC2 / Julio Martínez Calzón, Madrid (stucture); TYPSA, Madrid (mechanical engineering)
Stainless steel Escale mesh: GKD
Location: Parque de la Arganzuela, 28045, Madrid, Spain
Beginning of conceptual design for the urban competition for the redevelopment of the Manzaranes banks: 2005
Beginning of conceptual design for the footbridge: February 2008
Beginning of construction: February 2010
Length of the construction: 13 months

Above: photograph is by Gaelle Lauriot Prevost

Arganzuela park area 23 hectares
10 000 trees and 122 000 shrub planted

Arganzuela footbridge dimensions
south cone: 150 metres long
north cone: 128 metres long
diameter varies 5 à 12 metres from one end to the other

Total area of the decks 1 684 m²
south cone: 922 m²
north cone:762 m²

Tree species: ipe wood

Lampposts number 32
south cone: 17
north cone: 15

Luminary under the decks number 66
south cone: 35
north cone: 31

See also:

.

Pasarela del Postiguet by bgstudio	Can Gili Footbridge by Alfa Polaris	Trestles Beach footbridge by Dan Brill Architects

An outdoor elevator by Spanish architects Vaumm connects the mountainside neighbourhoods of a Spanish town to those in the valley.

The elevator shaft, at Errenteria in northern Spain, has a steel truss structure encased in clear glass, through which the moving elevator is visible.

At the lift summit a bridge branches outwards to meet the steeply inclining ground.

Ridged concrete wraps around the base of the tower, retaining the sloping landscape.

More stories about viewpoints on Dezeen »

Photography is by Aitor Ortiz.

Here are some more details from the architects:

Urbanisation and Urban Elevator in Galtzaraborda, Errenteria

In the middle of the 1960’s the industry of the region suffered a great development that led to the need for labor, generating new neighbourhoods in a short period of time.

These neighbourhoods, as Galtzaraborda, are usually high density areas which often have left the valley floor and its settlements begin to climb up the mountains. The buildings are placed following the logic of the topographic lines, covering different levels and creating irregular voids between them that are used to connect at maximum slope different levels.

The void space that concerns us is the natural connection between high levels of housing and the lower level occupied by the equipment, train station, sports center and nursery. This irregular and casual space is dominated by the presence of a huge tree to be maintained as a valuable witness of the change process in the neighbourhood.

Click above for larger image

The elevator has been built “in the only place where it could be”, its location is a crossing point resulting from the rule requiring minimum distances, maintaining the view of site from the houses around and not exceeding alignments of them. The second point that determines the shape of the elevator is the position of the gateway bridge which is misalignment and tangent to the elevator to keep away from the tree, focusing the pedestrian way in the virtual axis of the void space.

Click above for larger image

In this position, the gateway does not focus the eye on the door of the elevator, it allows the visitor to walk through it with a visual depth much more open and serves as an observation point on the environment, the distant mountains and the harbour of Pasaia. It has sought the maximum slenderness and transparency throughout the element; all pieces have been designed using rigid steel panels with truss triangulations.

Click above for larger image

The triangulations is the answer, first, to the structural logic and second, to an industrial language, in this sense, concrete walls have been form worked with sheet metal casing to provide them the mentioned industrial character. It is constructed in order to impregnate a sentimental relationship with the industrial language of the steel manufactures and the harbour that after all gave rise to Galtzaraborda.

Click above for larger image

Architects: VAUMM
Technical Architect: Julen Rozas
Construction: Obegisa
Project: Errenteria Garatuz
Production: City hall of Errenteria
Photography: Aitor Ortiz

See also:

.

Holmenkollen ski jump by JDS Architects completed	Landmark by Birk + Heilmeyer & Knippers Helbig	Top of Tyrol by Astearchitecture