New Bridge by Cox Rayner Architects paves the way for the future.
December 1st, 2008
The world’s first tensegrity pedestrian bridge, designed by Cox Rayner Architects, is due to be completed later this year on the banks of the Brisbane River.
The Kurilpa Bridge, commissioned as part of Premier Anna Bligh’s commitment to providing better access for pedestrians and cyclists, and has already been singled out for its innovative approach to design.
Taking the unique principle of tensegrity – which allows a structure to be concurrently strong, yet incredibly light – the bridge will link the city’s legal precinct to its cultural hub and provide a 425 metre pathway for users.
Baulderstone Kurilpa Bridge Project Manager Paul Stathis says that it was a combination of the engineers wanting the challenge of building something very lightweight and efficient and the architects wanting to build something that wasn’t just a ‘run-of-the-mill’ concrete bridge. “It’s not just unique in appearance, it’s unique in design and engineering,’’ Stathis says.
He says that while each of the 12.8m bridge deck segments are uniform, the cables that support the bridge differ in length, angle and load, creating engineering challenges.
“We are building the bridge deck piece by piece, night by night. Every element that’s installed is random, with the exception of the deck and the crossbeams – but the work is definitely not speculative or random,” Stathis says.
Check out the project progress here
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
Bidding farewell to mundane and uninspired office spaces, colour has transformed our workplaces into layered and engaging environments. So we sit down with Karina Simpson, Hot Black’s Workplace Lead, to talk about the influence colour has on the workspace landscape through the prism of Herman Miller’s progressive colour philosophy.
Explore the radical new organisation strategy which accommodates for the hybrid future of work.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
In this comment piece, Graeme Spencer, national director of science and education at HDR, discusses the state of scientific and technological innovation across the design industry.
The idea behind ubiquitous inclusivity is undoubtedly an appealing one, which is why universal and accessible design principles have been gaining so much traction in recent years. Here, two renowned design experts weigh in on utilising these principles to create accessible bathrooms – and share the design thinking underpinning the process.
This shortlisted residential project channels the story of a house through decades of ownership by the same client. With sensitive touches and an ambitious overall design vision, Annandale Terrace by Sam Crawford Architects is a delightful home.
Ostensibly an industrial design consultancy, Tilt was born of the observation of an increasing gap between architectural ambition and construction capability. The skill set lies in facilitating the inherently creative bent of architects, landscape architects and artists with engineering and industrial design solutions.