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connecting link


connecting link was the title of an open & international competition held during the end of 2009 in vienna. the city as client was searching proposals for a folding bridge connecting the edges of the "danube-channel". the site is located within a fabric of heritage- and contemporary architecture that is unique in vienna.

our proposal is a folding bridge that is completely seated on one side of the riverbank having one hinge. this was the best solution to react to the requirements and to follow our own leitmotif "keep it simple". model for our design-idea has been the bridge laying tank M60 (pic). the bridge has an approximate span of 47m and a width of 4.5m.

to reach a slender beam the bridge is statically fixed at the bedding side. on this side the bridge has a counterbalance that is visually hidden since it is integrated within the beam and sinks in the event of folding into an engineering room below the start of the bridge. to reduce optical heaviness of the elevation in standing position the bridge has a 1.5m broad strip of metal grid as floor paneling.

in our opinion this is on one side a very efficient way to create a folding bridge that relies on a field-tested mechanism and yet still has something surprising. unfortunately the jury did not believe in the idea and the project did not receive a reward. 

with phillip pongratz (architect) & christian rinderer (structural engineer)