FAN-tastic design! Engineers create London footbridge that unfolds like a paper concertina

FAN-tastic design! Engineers create London footbridge that unfolds like a paper concertina

Mangalore Today News Network

London, Oct 25, 2014: One of London’s canal ways has received a Japanese makeover with the opening of the Merchant Square footbridge.

Spanning the capital’s Paddington Basin, the structure looks like a conventional bridge six days of the week.

But come noon on Friday, and it transforms into an incredible fan as it lifts up to let passing boats through the canal.

Every noon on Friday, the bridge transforms into an incredible fan as it lifts up to let boats through the tiny canal

The design uses five steel beams which move using hydraulic jacks to open and close like the blades on a fan.

The bridge spans the 65ft (20 metre) width of the Grand Union Canal in London’s Paddington, close to Thomas Heatherwick’s Rolling Bridge that curls into a ball.

High Wycombe-based design group Knight Architects and structural engineers AKT I won a competition to design a kinetic sculpture and have created the ‘Fan Footbridge’ as result.

The bridge’s five beams, which range from six to seven tonnes, rise to different angles creating a fan effect and are balanced by a 40 tonne counterweight which keeps the beams stable.



High Wycombe-based design group Knight Architects and structural engineers AKT I won a competition to design a kinetic sculpture and have created the ‘Fan Footbridge’ as result


‘Shaped counterweights assist the hydraulic mechanism and reduce the energy required to move the structure,’ said a spokesperson from Knight Architects.

‘The bridge balustrades are formed from twin rows of inclined stainless steel rods, overlapping to form a robust yet filigree and highly transparent structure.’

The bridge will let boats past and, when it is fully closed, pedestrians can walk along the 9.8ft (3 metre) wide new design, which is illuminated by LED lights

 

The bridge’s five beams, which range from six to seven tonnes, rise to different angles creating a fan effect and are balanced by a 40 tonne counterweight which keeps the beams stable

‘The most challenging part of the fabrication was the required accuracy. For safety reasons, gaps between the beams had to be no bigger than 3mm over a length of 20 metres’, project architect, Bartlomiej Halaczek told Dezeen.

‘As impressive was the fabrication accuracy of the conical counterweights, which sink into the engine room turning into a set of walkable steps flush with the granite slabs around them.’

The bridge will let boats past and, when it is fully closed, pedestrians can walk along the 9.8ft (3 metre) wide new design, which is illuminated by LED lights.