Oct 21 2009

Kurilpa Bridge: Your Response

Kurilpa Bridge in Brisbane officially opens, to mixed reviews from our readers.

Last week saw the opening of the world’s largest tensegrity bridge, the Kurilpa Bridge in Brisbane.

Designed by Cox Rayner Architects with Arup the bridge uses the principle of tensegrity which produces a “synergy between balanced tension and compression components” creating a structure that is incredibly strong, yet light.

“The inherent strength in the tensegrity system meant that the deck could be very thin,” says lead architect Michael Rayner. “As river navigation requirements entailed the bridge needed to be 11 metres above the bank on the South Bank side, the 900mm deck enabled us to minimize the ramp down which otherwise would have eaten into Kurilpa Park, a significant historic meeting place for Aboriginal people.”

The 470-metre-long pedestrian bridge has been described by the Queensland Premier as “eye pleasing” and as a “world-first and exciting new landmark” for Queensland – meeting the needs of a rapidly growing city.

However, following an earlier article on indesignlive.com in December last year, we’ve received a flood of comments showing that the local response is certainly mixed. Read their comments below and feel free to join the conversation.



Hero image: Kurilpa Riverfire © Christopher Frederick Jones

Kurilpa Bridge k27 © David Sandison

 

 

Kurilpa Bridge k16 © David Sandison

 





What do you think of the Kurilpa Bridge?

comments

joey
October 23 2009
The angled vertical structures against the city backdrop just looks plain crude with all the detracting cabling tension everywhere...it somehow needed some form of subtlety in proportion and elegance as a standalone feature regardless...The Eiffel Tower had curvaceous form and lines married with bold details; regardless of the surrounding, it works. This is far from it...
Anna
October 24 2009
Give this bridge a break! It looks great and it's something different and unique. Just think of the Sydney Opera House and the negative responses Jorn Utzon kept on getting for a long time. And now it's THE Australian icon!
bob
October 24 2009
I'd like to know who the actual person okay'd it. From every angle, it's visual pollution. The only people that wouldn't be complaining is the Art Gallery... They needed more foot traffic.
Grace
October 24 2009
I think the problem is the sticks are too wide... had it been thinner or even varying diameters would probably make it a bit nicer..
Maybe paint it black?
Andrew
October 24 2009
Looking from the gallery side to city view is GOOD, but from city side to the gallery is an eyesoar and waisting fund that can be use better off. The bridges in Brisbane is too close to other..."city of bridges icon???"
jess
October 24 2009
i would really really love to love this bridge... but i just cant bring myself to... maybe i will see it differently in time but at the moment i feel it just misses it by a mile... is it ahead of its time or really just bad?
Katie O
October 24 2009
As a Brisbane resident I was highly sceptical of the bridge during it's construction phase, but upon completion I am super impressed with the overall aesthetic. To all the local, interstate and international naysayers, lighten up and appreciate a city doing something innovative!
elle
October 24 2009
In those photos it looks iconic and striking . Out on the water and in 'real life' walking through it, feels like prison. There are just too many cables and too much visble support, including strange pyramid shaped stuctural pieces that are completely at odds with the rest of the structure. And lighting wasn't integrated into the canopy, instead there are surface mounted fittings that look cheap and nasty. It is such a shame because it could have been great...
Tim
October 24 2009
We have a spoked wheel one end of Southbank, why not have a spindly bridge at the other. I fear what the next to be commissioned project on Southbank is.. possibly take a game of 'Pick Up Stixs' as inspiration? I honestly do admire the engineering, but sometimes, form really does need to supersede function, this seems chaotic from any angle. - Tim.
Gerry
October 24 2009
The bridge is definitely an amazing piece of architectural/structural creativity, but like so many others I agree it doesn't belong where it's been positioned, it detracts from the views across the river and it doesn't fit with the environment it's been built. But, we need to make the most of it as I don't see it being replaced any time soon!!
Jeb
October 24 2009
totally agree with the comment above 'great bridge, wrong place'. There is a lot of fun with the aesthetic and the engineering behind it, but it does obstruct views of Goma and the city stretch of the river. And furthermore because the engineering isn't a response to real constraints (it is merely a game of uniqueness) it is a bit try-hard.
Keith (Sydney)
October 25 2009
This is the finest structure on the Brisbane skyline. Its distinctly Brisbane- happy and healthy. Its plain to see the critics above are plain mizable. Get a life ..........
rach
October 25 2009
I think it's a shame that the structure blocks the very best angle of my favourite building, the art gallery. I like the concept but I think they did it wrong & in definately in the wrong place.
I miss my view of the gallery coming into the city on the ferry!
B (Melbourne)
October 25 2009
It looks like a mess, like a bunch of pick-up-sticks gone wrong, and is not conducive to the Brisbane Cityscape at all! There isn’t any form or style to this thing, it’s just a ‘bits-of’ and a visual mess! I appreciate the engineering of it but this, to me, is architect ego at its finest! The Forth Rail bridge in Scotland, The Storey Bridge, The Golden Gate – now they’re bridges! And what’s with the ugly bulkhead lights on the canopy? And the uplights in the ground to “light the canopy”, but really only achieve blinding the cyclists and pedestrians and lighting the ugly bulkhead lights!
Shar
October 25 2009
There are always going to be sceptics and critics when something is new and different, its a shame that the criticisms and negativity are the first thing advertised, and later you all get used to the design and appreciate it. You'd all complain if new designs lacked character, were boring and main stream. I applaud the designers and engineers for their innovative work.
jon
October 25 2009
i tend to agree with the comments about not fitting in with context blah blah blah......but what i hope happens is that the next generation and generations beyond will see their city differently - not as a conservative 'beige' city of endless grids, but as a place where exciting and innovative things can happen. If that happens (already illustrated by young billy's comment above), then the young innovative thinkers won't be thinking about how soon they can leave this city - they'll be waiting for their chance to contribute.
Dave
October 25 2009
Why not just concrete the river over and be done with it? there is so little left to see and when they develop the North side there will be even less.
K
October 25 2009
I like it. It's weird and wonderful....
C
October 25 2009
Lots of people throwing around the word "iconic", as if this is sufficient to justify the bridge's design. Iconic and good design are two very separate things. This bridge is all about the architects' ego and the need to make a statement.
nemo
October 25 2009
it more or less leads to the batman building... and it looks like a mess of cables.

I hereby dub thee... 'Spiderman bridge'

or Spideybridge for short.
Richard Groves
October 25 2009
Who ate all the steel and did the projectile vomit? It's not exactly in class of Calatrava or Foster, is it?
Pete
October 25 2009
Absolutely crap! As a designer living and working in Brisbane I am not at all impressed by this structure. Really what does it represent? A grossly overpriced government project that will ultimately become an eyesore. If Brisbane really wants to be an international city it would spend money on better infrastructure and buildings that sit in our environment appropriately, structures that its citizens can enjoy and not look questioning WTF?!?!?
Jeremy
October 25 2009
I think Kurilpa Bridge is radically pontifical...and I like it! The best thing about this bridge is that it encourages discussion and fuels debate, simply due to the love-hate divide over its design, and as such is super successful in its objective. I love having something that looks like it is part of an adventure playground, right in the middle of the city! Top effort! Wurd!
Sam (Ali's brother)
October 28 2009
I love that bridge…. It looks like sailing ship masts and reminds me that the brown sludge running through the centre of the city is in fact water.
Kate
October 28 2009
I'm disappointed. Though a feat of engineering, it is poorly sited and obstructs Brisbanes iconic views to Mt Cootha. I notice the hero shots are never taken from that angle....
K
October 28 2009
I thought art/design was all about making a statement. It certainly does that.
Peter
November 05 2009
Two words, PRAWN TRAWLER.
R
November 22 2009
I absolutely love Charlotte's Web! FINALLY brisbane has something that's inventive and bold. I'm so sick of how it's so scared of looking like a city. You'd think by some of the comments here that you weren't even from a design background...you're all so conservative! I think it's astounding how designers (especially architects) feel the need to criticise each others' designs instead of coming together to support each other & design in general. It's something we should be embarrassed about as an industry. No wonder design is undervalued in our country compared to others...even the designers feel the need to bad mouth the work of other designers.
Annie
November 22 2009
We as designers should support each other's efforts because in Australia the general population doesn't value nor appreciate design! The Australian government, let alone the general public, does not spend enough money on Architecture nor design in Australia. Everything is thrown together haphazardly, and no matter what happens the poor architect ends up getting crucificed for spending too much money or not doing their job well enough. Lets face it, the budgets here are pathetic as people do not value design. To compound the problem, our labour force is ridiculously expensive, and this in itself needs to change as it is causing all sorts of problems which do not exist in any other first world country.
Phuong
January 08 2010
Don't know if the brief say anything about aesthetic. I think this is the most ugliest modern bridge i've seen. It's a mess of a thing with any focal point that are noteworthy of a landmark. Maybe the science behind are more interesting then the final product. Well at least its in Queensland so no one would take notice of it.

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