Our first bridge design

April 2013 Ector Hoogstad Architecten has now finished the design of a bridge - our very fist bridge - as part of the plans for the area surrounding Utrecht Central Station. The bridge will be used by buses and trams and occasionally by emergency services. It crosses the Leidsche Rijn canal, a reconstructed historic waterway just north to the new central train station. It has a very complex spatial context. On either side of the bridge the transport route leads through a building; on one side we have the so-called "Noordblok" which is part of the new buildings aligning the new Station Square and on the others side the "Library ++", a combination of public library, arts center and housing that is currently being designed by Rapp+Rapp. This situation calls for a strong and unequivocal design. To achieve this we chose to use only one material - concrete - turning the bridge into a monolithic object. The construction design reduces the required number of supports to only one hybrid column, that works together with a "belly" underneath the deck to optimally distribute forces. Randomly placed lights invoke a starry night sky and allow for very local distribution of light intensity. EHA collaborated on the design with Royal Haskoning/DHV.