NorrbotniabananNorrbotniabananNorrbotniabanan
Invited competition, Robertsfors 2022. The competition brief asked for a landscape bridge that, with a strong identity of its own, can become a landmark and a positive symbol for the Norrbotniabanan line and the Swedish railway system in general as a sustainable means of transport for future generations.
Robertsfors' history as an ironwork town, together with the advantages of steel in terms of a reduced carbon footprint, structural malleability and potential future recycling, inspired the search for a design that is both light and expressive. The resulting proposal is a new landscape bridge conceived as a deep red structure made up of equilateral trusses of weathering steel resting on slender concrete supports. Within the vast open valley landscape, the bridge has a dual function: a visual and evocative landmark as well as a purely rational and forward-looking piece of infrastructure.
In addition to its relationship to historic pioneering steel bridges, the quality of the deep red truss can, through its geometrical pattern effect, evoke both contemporary landscape art installations and playful patterns present in ancient local crafts such as cross-stitching, Sami jewellery and textile art, or the imagery of Viking Age runic inscriptions.
A steel bridge offers several major advantages, as the number of bridge columns can be halved, which is positive for the landscape and simultaneously results in savings in time and cost during construction on-site. With fewer bridge columns, the impact on the passage over the cultural landscape, the historic railway and existing pipelines can also be minimised. The steel structure is fully recyclable and, unlike a concrete structure, is placed entirely on top of the bridge pillars; this increased clearance enhances the experience and legibility of the open agricultural landscape and its visual connection with the old mill buildings. The steel truss structure can also naturally integrate various functional elements.
In collaboration with structural engineers Buro Happold.
