Bridge in the Dunes

Bridge in the Dunes aims to articulate a playful relation between man and river. It invites people to slow down and spend time on a derelict strip of land, transforming passers-by into passengers.

Instead of developing the plot I proposed to maintain the area as an unique open space, placing a water-powered rotating pedestrian bridge in its center. While studying the river banks from source to estuary I discovered several obscure infrastructure measures and decided to complement the broader context with a „folly“/machine - The project accentuates the open space and emphasizes the urban potential of the obscure river banks of the Sihl. A small pipe channels river water onto a metal roof resting just above ground level. The higher the load the structure bears, the lower it sinks into a grotto down below. While sinking, gears translate the kinetic energy to a counter weight. In reverse to the metal-roof the counterweight rises from the grotto up into the sky, visualizing the charge of the „battery“. When the roof is completely filled with river water and the counterweight reached its zenith, the roof tilts due to its asymmetrical center of gravity, to release all collected water - as a waterfall - back into the river. In order to avoid the roof from jumping up and the counterweight from falling down, the rotating pedestrian bridge acts as a resistance, completing and protecting the entire system. Under normal circumstances the bridge rotates every 30 minutes. Depending on the amount of water the river carries into the city, the temporal conditions of the site change, as the bridge rotates less or more frequently. Counterweight and waterfall communicate - visually and acoustically - the „rivers schedule“ to pedestrians awaiting passage.