Italian architects Progettospore have proposed a triple bridge for pedestrians and small vehicles at the medieval village of Civita’ di Bagnoregio in Viterbo, Italy.
The proposal, drawn up last year for a competition for a new bridge connecting the hilltop village, consists of three steel bridges that twist and support each other.
Here’s some more information from Progettospore:
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The idea that gave birth to this plan is to enhance the value of a village with such rare formal characteristics trough a contemporary project based on past ideas. In fact it was while we were reading the “De re Aedificatoria” by Leon Battista Alberti and his observations on medieval villages that we have leid the guide lines of the project.
Our aim was to be able to reach the village by following various “imaginary” way’s drawn in the sky having the freedom to float in space as birds. Using an animation program we have made float some visitors in the sky, and, once we found the better suited trajectories, we have used them to plan the three paths that compose the bridge.
In some places, the paths almost induce the bridge to deny itself because instead of detaching from the back of the valley, to get directly to its destination, it stretches itself over it merging with the surrounding land. with this solution we created many accesses (one is from the already existing parking) almost as if to question the idea that a bridge must have one entrance and one exit.
The bridge was planned for the pedestrian transit and the small motor means. So, whereas in two paths in places with a significant slope it was necessary to build stairs the third one (the central) is accessible to disable people in wheelchairs too.The main structure is a steel pylon. This solution gave the opportunity to have a lean structure with a very few supports because every path uses part of the other ones to support itself and so in its whole these three tracks in the sky appear to be just one thing.
More over part of the overall structure through two paths is lying on the floor on the already existing foundations. This solution also permits to have a significant supporting base that works directly with the suspended parts. Considering the desire to have a chromatic and visual approach that wold refer to local materials, the pylon structure was covered with brushworks that conceal its complexity in favor of the simplicity of the paths. The bridge appears to have both in the color and in the texture of the surface a similar effect to the construction materials of the place.
December 15th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
is it very hard to travel up the slope?
December 15th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
wow! very fascinating. i’d love to travel those slopes
December 15th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Because I want low railings and a narrow walkway to be elevated high up above two other walkways, sloped, giving me vertigo…
Clumsy tourists and anxious people. Hopefully that structure is a lot more solid looking. This is one scary bridge!
December 15th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Nice form.. and good for keeping the locals fit..
December 15th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
wow… fascinating indeed! looks very steap and scary imho… perhaps it would be more functional with one way for the old and weak visitors… one mediocre and one for the brave ;-)
December 15th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Great structure ! I liked the way those forms “talk” with de landscape topography. I wolud like to see some photos of the real place.
December 15th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Cela semble un véritable contresens formel et structurel
Dommage, car le site paraît vraiment intéressant….
December 15th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
It would certainly make an interesting walk and provide a lot of photographic vantagepoints. But I really doubt it will ever be built.
December 15th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
beautiful looking but completely irrational
December 15th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Looks very nice and innovative, quite impractical though.
December 15th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
call me old fashioned but i don’t like walking uphill on a bridge unless the receiving grade necessitates it.
a great design for the eyes, but not a good bridge.
December 15th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
I wanna wrap myself around it
December 15th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Very very delicate! Congrats!
December 15th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
no wonder there is no picture showing the bridge in the real landscape…
December 15th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
looks awesome but i think people will be likely to consistently choose easiest route. kinda makes the other paths pointless
December 15th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Belissimo
December 16th, 2009 at 2:12 am
the little pavillion at the end looks somewhat clumsy. Otherwise: VERY VERY APPEALING!!
December 16th, 2009 at 4:18 am
i do not understand why go up a slope, then down a slope, to go up a slope originally? why not just make a new hill or something?
December 16th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Ooook…and who did actually win the competition?
December 16th, 2009 at 10:05 am
steve,
Im sorry, but that has to be most ridicilous critisim in the history of critisisms.
December 16th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Ubelievable!
I don’t know guys if you have been in Civita di Bagnoreggio (that’s how you spell it) but this project is the best way to destroy the unicity of that place.
Surreal and isolated.
That feeling of being suspendend that this bridge is killing.
December 16th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I mean that going down on the sole, touching the sole it destroyd that idea I was talking about.
Heidegger would not be so happy by this bridge.
Anyway I suggest to take a visit there, before this become real.
:)
December 16th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Ok now I read that they didn’t win the competition.
the why put a lot of enphasys on a participant project?
December 16th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
I love the bridge and its aesthetic, I think it is very simple but yet very dramatic.
I haven’t been in that place but I can’t see why it won’t fit in the landscape.
I just hope the architect did the right research to build what he envisages (and what we actually see) and not just trying to sell us a nice model.
Also, some of the slopes look almost impossible to climb, bear in mind that not only young athletes will go to visit this place…
December 16th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
fantastico!!!
December 16th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
“who did actually win the competition?”
this one:
http://bizblog.splinder.com/post/17651789/Soddisfasi%C3%B9n+-+less+is+more
December 16th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
lovely. beautiful but in stark contrast of the existing village. imagine this bridge coming up to the park guell… is it there more appropriate?less?
Free thinking is wonderful and this concept is exciting but the critiques about impracticality miss the point of the exercise-practical would be an escalator or an elevator. this is a story about context and whether the beautiful curves over the austere render will marry well the the rugged charming terrain of reality.
December 16th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
I like it. Much good design has an irrational element
December 16th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
vraiment interessant comme idée. Je en dis pas que traverser le pont sera aisée, mais en général, c’est une application qui mérite d’être étudié de près.
December 17th, 2009 at 8:25 am
Personally, anything new & daring always seems to have critique & a lot of resistance. But…change is good!! I love the daring ambition exibited in this design. Theres a flowing dynamism to the design, which reminds me of something organic. All in all, it hard to see how it would tie into the typograpy & what it would do for the environment of the village’s landscape.
I guess Im not a lazy person… so I wouldn’t mind hiking up & down the slope. I would actually enjoy the experience which is what was intended through the concept. Village people are not built like us city people ( life is lived on a different pace) – so Im sure it wouldn’t be as much of an issue.
Would be nice if the walkway was suited for bicycles too..
December 17th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Absolutely fantastic!!!!
December 17th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Let’s get over with rationalism once in a while !
I think that the society often needs some spiritual and poetic pleasures from architecture !
I fully support this approach !
December 17th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Personally, anything is new and “DARING” always seems to be considered “WOW” and “AMAZING”. I’m not so obstile to new things.
New is also not to be necessarly “NEW” in a virtuosity of forms.
New can be also discrete and understand who is the main subject of this story.
I’ve have seen the winner proposal, nothing amazing in the shape but really complex and weel done in the way is related to the “subject” of this story.
But of course is my personal opinion.
Anyway to get a wider view of what the competition was, this might help
http://europaconcorsi.com/results/66881-Riqualificazione-dell-accesso-all-abitato-di-Civita-di-Bagnoregio-VT-/rankings
December 18th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
finally a new bridge! congratulations, really nice