Structure studio Christ & Gantenbein has added a sculptural concrete bridge throughout the Aare River in Aarau, Switzerland, with 5 arches of various widths.
Designed in collaboration with native engineering studios WMM Ingenieure and Henauer Gugler, New Aare Bridge connects the town centre to a forested space on the opposite aspect and incorporates lanes for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists.
The 119-metre-long construction replaces an ageing concrete crossing in-built 1949 and designed by Christ & Gantenbein to reference its historic environment.
The concrete bridge has a light-weight gray end and is solid with a sample of vertical traces knowledgeable by the city’s stone buildings and medieval homes.
“The bridge’s subtly colored concrete expression is knowledgeable by the mineral context of the previous metropolis of Aarau,” Christ & Gantenbein informed Dezeen.“Its design respects the historic significance of the placement, the city construction, and the panorama of the Aare river, and fulfils the wants for contemporary infrastructure.”
“The sample was chosen such that the concrete pouring levels and the requisite growth joints coincide with formwork joints, in addition to drawing inspiration from the robustness of Aarau’s stone buildings, medieval homes lining the town wall, piers, riverbank reinforcements, and extra,” added Christ & Gantenbein.
Comprising 5 arches of various widths, the New Aare Bridge’s construction takes benefit of present components retained from the unique crossing together with two caissons – a sort of watertight retaining construction.
The widest arch of the bridge is supported by these present caissons, which sit on the centre of the river. The width of the opposite arches reduces in the direction of the banks.
To minimise materials utilization, the studio designed the type of the bridge primarily based on the scale of the reused components. It additionally added recesses and holes into the concrete to take away parts which had been structurally pointless.
“Changing a former bridge, our design reuses some present components such because the caissons, to which the geometry needed to adapt,” mentioned the studio. “The bridge is an optimised monolithic building, the place each element contributes to a unified, seamless construction.”
“This contemporary, arch-like, reinforced-concrete building effectively bears hundreds, utilising much less concrete than standard designs,” it continued.
Throughout its 17.5-metre width, the bridge options two automotive lanes, together with pavements and bicycle lanes.
To boost the city space across the bridge, Christ & Gantenbein additionally labored with native panorama studio August + Margrith Künzel Landschaftsarchitekten to create a sequence of public areas and pathways alongside the banks of the river that may be accessed from the bridge.
This features a public sq. with stone paving, a row of lime bushes for shade and lengthy benches that department from the bridge.
“In entrance of the wing partitions we organized, as an additional component of a basic riverside promenade, a row of shady summer time lime bushes,” mentioned panorama architects August and Margrith Künzel.
“They create a pleasing ambiance and combine the bridge partitions, along with a growing wall of greenery, into the environment,” they continued.
A large path operating alongside one financial institution options area for train and biking in addition to lounge areas shaded by bushes, whereas a meadow stuffed with native planting has been added to the opposite aspect of the river.
“The principle goal of our design was to seamlessly combine the bridge into each the city context and the pure setting whereas creating beneficiant public areas,” mentioned Christ & Gantenbein. “The brand new riverside hyperlinks the bridge to the town the place present promenades are enhanced and newly interpreted.”
Different bridges just lately featured on Dezeen embody a sculptural bridge produced from boat-like kinds and a glulam bridge linked to Manhattan’s Excessive Line.
The images is by Stefano Graziani.
