Paris based architecture firm, Atelier Zundel Cristea recently won an award for their unique and contemporary bridge design as part of the ArchTriumph Design Competition 2012. As per the competition brief, the task was to design a new contemporary bridge over the Seine River in Paris. The challenge was to create a bridge over the River Seien in Paris that will be worthy of it being the new icon/landmark, taking into account the position of the location and the expectation for an iconic bridge in a city like Paris.
According to the architects at Atelier Zündel Cristea, “The competition brief, A Bridge in Paris, allows us to locate an architectural reflection within this same realm of contemporary urban enjoyment. It appears to us that Paris has enough bridges. Our intention is to invite its visitors and inhabitants to engage on a newer and more playful path across this same water. We propose an inflatable bridge equipped with giant trampolines, dedicated to the joyful release from gravity as one bounces above the river. Installed near the Bir-Hakeim Bridge, it is formed of inflatable modules, like giant life-preservers, 30 meters in diameter. In the central part of each ring, a trampoline mesh is stretched. The floating buoys, fabricated in PVC membrane, are attached together by cord to form a stable and self-supporting ensemble. Each module under tension – filled with 3700 cubic meters of air – develops in space with an arch-like form.”
