This Hydraulic Bridge Opens and Closes Like a 30-Ton Steel Fan
By Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan, Gizmodo, 2 October 2014.
By Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan, Gizmodo, 2 October 2014.
More than 200 years ago, this canal in London was a critical vein in the city's industrial infrastructure, carting goods between Birmingham and London. The bridge that spans it today would have seemed utterly bizarre - but a lot has changed since 1801.
Like so many other post-industrial port cities, London has plenty of waterfront real estate in need of revitalization, and the area around the once-booming Paddington Canal was no exception. Beginning in the early 2000s, the post-industrial neighbourhood became part of one of the largest development schemes London had ever seen - including new office buildings, residential blocks, and plenty of public spaces.
And since the canal itself remained - as well as the odd boat or two - there would need to be pedestrian bridges. First came one that rolled and unrolled like a potato bug, or like something out of an Indiana Jones movie, designed by Thomas Heatherwick in 2004. Now, another London design team has finished work on second pedestrian drawbridge - and this one is perhaps even wilder.
It's called the Merchant Square Bridge, and it was designed by Knight Architects and AKT II, both based in London. Here's how it works: The 65-foot-long bridge is divided lengthwise into five distinct steel beams. Each beam is cantilevered out over the canal with a massive counterweight hidden in the ground at one side - these are controlled by a subterranean hydraulic jack.
When the bridge is down, the beams lock together to create a perfect 10-foot-wide path across the canal, handrails and everything. When they're raised, they create a twisted steel form, capped off by five steel-edged counterweights that rise out of the ground at one edge. The architects describe it as a "kinetic sculpture."
For the ubiquity of the mechanism used to operate it, it's got an ingenious amount of bang for the buck. With a few pieces of expertly crafted steel, some counterweights, and a hydraulic jack, these designers built a bridge unlike any other in the world.
Video: Merchant Square Footbridge
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please adhere to proper blog etiquette when posting your comments. This blog owner will exercise his absolution discretion in allowing or rejecting any comments that are deemed seditious, defamatory, libelous, racist, vulgar, insulting, and other remarks that exhibit similar characteristics. If you insist on using anonymous comments, please write your name or other IDs at the end of your message.