Erdre
Footbridge for walking and cycling over the Erdre
Client AFUL Chantrerie
Design team Desplaces Ducher Architectes, with partners Guillaume Durand, architect, and Mathieu Dolhain, ESTP engineer
Mission Sketch design – Competition
Address La Chapelle-sur-Erdre – 44240 Loire-Atlantique
Programme Footbridge for walking and cycling over the Erdre
Span 300 m
Budget €4.5M excl. VAT
Dates 2014
The Erdre landscape is a preserved natural environment where fauna and flora thrive. Until now, people have maintained a respectful relationship with it. Paths, clearings and jetties characterise a space shaped by walking, cycling and leisure. We imagined a slender line, like the paths already on the site, a blade floating above the water, made of a single material, concrete, giving it an organic presence.
Concrete, a basic material in common use today, made of aggregates and admixtures, is combined with cutting-edge engineering to form UHPFRC, ultra-high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete. This technique allows the simple country path along the Erdre to continue over the water, spanning 300 m, while keeping contact points with the riverbed to a minimum. A crossing, with its branches and specific features, is infrastructure that can affect the landscape. The work on the proportions of the structure seeks contextual continuity, through the technical feat of its slenderness.
Concrete, a basic material in common use today, made of aggregates and admixtures, is combined with cutting-edge engineering to form UHPFRC, ultra-high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete. This technique allows the simple country path along the Erdre to continue over the water, spanning 300 m, while keeping contact points with the riverbed to a minimum. A crossing, with its branches and specific features, is infrastructure that can affect the landscape. The work on the proportions of the structure seeks contextual continuity, through the technical feat of its slenderness.
