Bridges aren’t just a means of passing from one place to another along a linear path; they might offer a place for strangers to converge, provide a mostly decorative function or go nowhere at all. These highly unusual bridge designs aren’t packed with cities or vertical gardens, but they do turn conventional bridge typologies on their heads, whether they’re made entirely of compressed glass sheets, built by robots or held aloft by helium balloons.

3D-Printed Steel Bridge for Amsterdam

Amsterdam startup MX3D aims to build a 3D-printed metal bridge for the center of the city, incorporating complex geometries and employing the help of multi-axis industrial robots equipped with 3D printing tools and developed software. Designer Joris Laarman says, “I strongly believe in the future of digital production and local production, in ‘the new craft,’ This bridge will show how 3d printing finally enters the world of large-scale, functional objects and sustainable materials while allowing unprecedented freedom of form. The symbolism of the bridge is a beautiful metaphor to connect the technology of the future with the old city, in a way that brings out the best of both worlds.”

Cirkelbroen Bridge by Olafur Eliasson

Stretching across a canal in Copenhagen, the new Cirkelbroen Bridge by Olafur Eliasson provides a vantage point and meeting place for pedestrians. Five posts echo the masts of ships above circular platforms, honoring the location’s nautical history. “In my art, I work with transient materials – such as wind, fog or flowing water,” says Eliasson. “It has been wonderful to have the opportunity to make a structure such as the Cirkelbroen Bridge, which embodies this transience – the changing of the weather and how this helps to create the waterfront atmosphere – but a bridge which has a long, stable life ahead of it at the same time.”

Nomanslanding Bridge

A dome on a fenced platform in the middle of the Rhine, this structure looks nothing like a conventional bridge, and it doesn’t work like one, either. A collaboration between five artists for an annual festival, ‘nomanslanding’ wasn’t made for the purpose of crossing the water, but rather uniting visitors from opposite shores in a symbolic gesture. The two halves retract into separate spaces or come together to form a united, chapel-like space of contemplation. “This walk-on installation is an attempt to bridge the divide separating us from strangers and to facilitate a meeting on common ground,” say the artists. “A space is created with a unique atmosphere in which people may reflect with each other on history, memories and experiences.

The Infinite Bridge

Created for this year’s Sculpture by the Sea festival, the ‘Infinite Bridge’ by Danish practice Gjøde & Povisgaard Arkitekter offers an entirely new way to experience the coastal landscape, jutting out over the surface of the water. Positioned just barely above the surface, the bridge has the potential to either stand several meters over the water or disappear in it altogether depending on the tide.

Helium Balloon Bridge

If crossing this bridge makes you feel nervous that the whole thing might suddenly fly away, you’re not being paranoid. Held aloft by three massive helium balloons, the only thing keeping it from drifting into the sky are a few tethers. Artist Olivier Grossetête installed the surreal featherweight attraction in Tatton’s Japanese Garden in the UK. A previous work, ‘Pont Suspendu,’ actually elevated the bridge into the air above Château Ferry Lacombe in France.

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Crossing The Divide 10 Totally Atypical Bridge Designs

Some of the concepts submitted for the new Nine Elms to Pimlico pedestrian bridge in London are rather – well – pedestrian, while others are so out-there they’ve been nicknamed ‘The Flaming Mouth of Hades.’ Spanning the Thames River, the bridge will link two very different parts of the city, and must be “technically rigorous and beautiful,” cyclist-friendly and well-engineered while providing headroom for river traffic.

The competition to design the bridge has drawn dozens of entries from around the world, with a shortlist set to be announced later this month and a winner unveiled in July. The design brief notes that “how the bridge looks from afar, as it bestrides the Thames, what it feels like to cross and how it touches land on either shore – and the places that it creates around each landing point – will be critical to its success.”

Thus far, there’s only a gallery of images to look at, without any supporting information on each design, so it’s hard to tell just what we’re looking at in some cases. The City Metric called most of the entries ‘ridiculous,’ pointing out “the one which is definitely not a bridge,” “the one like a nightmarish Escher painting” and “the one that’s a spoon.”

It’s clear enough why the word Hades was invoked to describe the strange violet-and-orange creation pictured above, and it’s unclear how this design would actually function as a bridge. You have to wonder whether some of the entrants are just trolling. But some of the designs are actually quite beautiful, like the one featuring a perforated undulating canopy over a network of paths planted with greenery. However will the judges choose?

Even ordinary bridges are complex structures, but add in multiple levels,  undulating ribbons of steel, elements that dip into the water or roads that split into scissor-like blades and you’ve got quite a dynamic feat of engineering. Some of those potential feats are a little more achievable than others. These 14 (more!) bridge concepts include a few innovative designs that are actually going to be built, while others have been deemed ‘too crazy’ to ever be real.

Entwined Ribbon Bridge for China

The competition this concept was shortlisted for has been canceled, so it may never be achieved in physical form. Denton Corker Marshall architects designed this bridge for Jinsha Lake in Hangzhou, with one ribbon offering a flat surface for cyclists, one rising into the air to offer various views, and a third decorative ribbon winding between the first two.

Tulip Bridge for Amsterdam

The ‘petals’ of this wooden bridge blossom and unfold in various configurations throughout the day, variously allowing pedestrians to cross the water or, if they so desire, jump in. Designed by MLBS Architects, the Tulip Bridge functions as a symbolic landmark for Amsterdam. When all of its petals are flat, it makes up a large plaza with plenty of room for the flow of pedestrians, but when all of the petals are raised (except for one that allows entry) it can turn into an exhibition space.

Bay Bridge Tourist Park

The September 2nd, 2013 opening of the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge made the old one obsolete: so what to do with it? Some have called for it to be broken up and made into housing, others want to see it converted into a public park. Architects Rael San Fratello have a few tongue-in-cheek designs taking these ideas into consideration. How about bike paths, combing walls, outdoor cinemas, hotel rooms and a giant swimming pool? Together, these ideas may be a little over the top, but they present a few intriguing possibilities.

Habitable Bridge for Seville, Spain

A sinuous bridge mimicking the waves of the river below it could act as a cultural center of Seville, Spain. This concept incorporates two layers – a sunny, grassy surface on top, and a shaded area with stepped seating closer to the water. The proposal also incorporates an existing tobacco factory, renovating it into an auditorium with a ground level piazza.

Parametric Cloud Bridge

This design doesn’t exactly conform to the general idea of what a bridge is, and should be. Unusual and unexpected, ‘Cloudbridge’ by Arturo Tedeschi architects creates a non-linear path between two points. The shape was determined by an algorithm that produces a cloud-shaped grid balancing the asymmetric loads of the footbridge.

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Wild Water Crossings 14 Innovative Bridge Concepts

With space increasingly at a premium in cities around the world, bodies of water – and the structures that span them – are becoming host to all sorts of unexpected functions. This concept by Paris-based studio AZC spurns the idea of an ordinary bridge, creating an inflatable urban playground that infuses joy into the everyday routines of city inhabitants.

‘Bridge in Paris’ aims to bring urban dwellers back to “a state of primal happiness, of ancestral times when body and spirit were essentially free.” Rather than simply crossing a pedestrian bridge without thought, users take a few moments for uninhibited playtime.

Installed near the Bir-Hakeim Bridge on the River Seine in Paris, the bridge is made of three life raft-shaped inflatable modules with trampoline mesh stretched between each one. The concept is designed to be adaptable to other sites as well, including smaller rivers.

“Located in direct relationship to eiffel’s tower the installation becomes symbol of ephemeral architecture designed to provide a unique experience: a view of all of Paris,” says AZC.

In sunny weather, the calm pools of water in Nongriat are the perfect place to bathe or relax, their waters typically shallow enough to stand in. But this peacefulness is rare, and when the rain comes – as it so often does – the locals need bridges that are stronger than steel in order to cross. Their solution? Growing their own. A native species of rubber tree is the ideal medium for living bridges that can withstand rivers that run with deadly force.

(images via: arshiya bose)

This area of Meghalaya, India gets an astonishing 49 feet of rain on average each year. Flash floods come quickly and without warning. So, long before modern engineers began designing the kinds of bridges that could hold up to such conditions, the locals here found a way around the problem.

(image via: rajkumar1220)

For 500 years, they have been manipulating the secondary roots of the ficus elastica, which grow along the length of the trunk. The roots can be bent, twisted and taught to grow in certain arrangements.

(images via: rajkumar1220)

Using hollowed-out betel nut trunks as a lightweight skeleton for the bridge, the villagers encourage the roots to grow from one side of the bank to the other, creating a platform. Because the roots are living, they won’t rot, even in the face of constant moisture.

(image via: rajkumar1220)

(image via: vinayakh)

The bridges can support the weight of up to 50 people at once, and are even built in ‘double-decker’ form. It can take decades for them to stretch across a river or farm, but they continue to grow in strength.