More than 200 years ago , this canal in London was a critical venous blood vessel in the city ’s industrial base , carting goods between Birmingham and London . The bridge that spans it today would have seemed utterly bizarre — but a lot has changed since 1801 .
Like so many other post - industrial port metropolis , London has plenty of waterfront real estate in want of revival , and the orbit around the once - booming Paddington Canal was no exception . Beginning in the former 2000s , the post - industrial neighbourhood became part ofone of the heavy development schemesLondon had ever find — including newfangled office buildings , residential blocks , and mass of public spaces .
And since the canal itself remained — as well as the odd gravy boat or two — there would need to be pedestrian bridge . First came one thatrolled and unrolled like a white potato bug , or like something out of an Indiana Jones movie , project by Thomas Heatherwick in 2004 . Now , another London design team has stop piece of work on second pedestrian lift bridge — and this one is perhaps even wilder .
It ’s called the Merchant Square Bridge , and it was design byKnight ArchitectsandAKT II , both free-base in London . Here ’s how it knead : The 65 - foot - long bridge circuit is divide lengthwise into five distinct brand beams . Each beam is cantilever out over the channel with a massive counterweight hidden in the ground at one side — these are verify by a ulterior hydraulic jack .
When the bridge is down , the irradiation lock together to create a perfect 10 - foot - all-encompassing path across the canal , handrails and everything . When they ’re raise , they create a misrepresented steel form , capped off by five steel - abut counterweights that lift out of the ground at one bound . The designer describe it as a “ kinetic sculpture . ”
For the ubiquitousness of the chemical mechanism used to operate it , it ’s got an clever amount of smash for the buck . With a few piece of music of expertly craft steel , some counterweights , and a hydraulic jack , these designers work up a nosepiece unlike any other in the cosmos .
All images courtesy ofKnight Architects .
Infrastructure
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