Blade-Like Movable Footbridge
Five blade-like portions of this movable footbridge at London’s Paddington Basin open and close like a Japanese fan using hydraulic jacks. Envisioned as a kinetic sculpture with a functional purpose, it looks like an ordinary pedestrian crossing until the beams rise into the air on their counterweights.
Meixi Lake Bridge
Red ribbons undulate above the surface of China’s Meixi Lake in this proposal for a dramatic, sculptural pedestrian bridge by NEXT architects. Designed for a new development revitalizing the area, the 150-meter bridge mimics the nearby hills and provides crucial access points along different harbor planes.
Peace Bridge by Santiago Calatrava
A helical footbridge crosses the Bow River in Calgary, Canada, offering separate paths for pedestrians and bicyclists. Designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, the 126-meter Peace Bridge features a glass roof with a criss-crossing steel exterior in red and white.
Glazed Glass Bridge by Thomas Heatherwick
Though plans to actually build it have been shelved for financial reasons, Thomas Heatherwick’s design for a bridge entirely made of glass is worth a look. Envisioned for London’s King’s Cross district, the bridge is formed from over 1,000 sheets of 12mm glass structurally compressed into a sculptural beam form.
Parametric Cloud Bridge
Taking its form from computational techniques and an image of a cloud stretching across a canyon, ‘Cloudbridge’ by Arturo Tedeschi aims to interpret the natural landscape in an entirely new way. The architects used a specific algorithm to produce a cloud-shaped grid consisting of transparent geometric forms. The internal pedestrian path meanders through the mesh rather than maintaining a straight line.
