West 8: The Pedestrian Bridge at Wenduine provides a safe traverse over a busy provincial motorway and double tramlines. Literally forming a bridge between the polder and the dunes “Het Wrakhout” (The Wrecked Wooden) bridge and connects the local campsite to the beach. The site is characterized by a cultural costal landscape of polders, dunescapes, and the ocean. The solid form of the bridge’s wooden trusses offer the joggers, walkers and the holiday makers who inhabit this salty, sandy and sometimes windy environment a sense of security.
A newly created dune volume provides a natural way to access the bridge. The bridge itself is supported by several concrete braces and its frame constructed in several sections, the bolted truss ends and random positioning of an immense number of joints creates an intricate and highly complex construct. It suggests randomness, chaos, and coincidence. Conceptually, the arrangement of wooden beams and interspersed steel supports are likened to pieces of driftwood that have washed ashore, in this way the bridge anchors itself to the dune landscape. The wooden elements are positioned close to each other or, loaded or doubled in areas where the tension is high – such as above the gates supporting the bridge and in the middle of the span between the supports. The ramparts of the existing dune crossing have also been taken into consideration in the new spatial layout. The new bridge, a true “landmark” leads holiday makers to a panoramic lookout over the dune, sea and the polder of Uitkerken.
Project: Pedestrian Bridge Wenduine (Wenduine, Belgium)
Client: Vlaams Gewst, AMDK
Competition: 2005
Design: 2008-2009, 2012
Realisation: 2013-2014
Span: 85m
Photography: Jeroen Musch
Team:
Architect:
West 8, Urban Design & Landscape Architecture
Design Team: Adriaan Geuze, Maarten van de Voorde, Andrew Tang, Joost Koningen, Gaspard Estourgie, Christian Gausepohl, Karsten Bucholz, Ronald van Nugteren
Engineering:
Snoeck en Partners, architectuur & engineering
Design Engineer :
BAS, bureau voor architectuur en stabiliteit
Building contractor:
WestConstruct Oostkamp
Supply and assembly:
Koninklijke Houthandel G. Wijma & zonen
