Zwolle’s bamboo-clad Bus Bridge.
ipv delft
Cyclists the world over swoon when they see photographs and videos of the Hovenring bicycle bridge in The Netherlands. Transit nerds now have a bridge they can swoon over, and it is made by the same company, ipv Delft, a Dutch design company which specializes in eye-catching infrastructure.
Built to span the railway station in the Dutch city of Zwolle, the Busbrug–literally “bus bridge”–is an 84-meter swirling concrete and steel bridge with a central beam and cantilever deck. Underneath it is clad with bamboo.
Built to be beautiful but functional, the Busbrug curves for good reasons.
ipv delft
The bridge is curved not only for aesthetic reasons but also to skirt around existing buildings and rail infrastructure. However, the shape presented engineering challenges including the prevention of torsion.
The bamboo was added because bare concrete is neither attractive nor welcoming.
ipv Delft has designed even curvier bridges–the 104-meter bicycle bridge across the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal near the village of Nigtevecht features snakelike s-bends–but its most iconic bridge remains the UFO-a-like Hovenring, commissioned by the tech city of Eindhoven.
Opened in 2012, this is a suspended circular cycle bridge with a 70-meter high pylon in the middle. The bridge “floats” above a busy traffic circle, and is a regular destination for international study groups.
A number of designers from ipv Delft worked on the Dutch CROW Design Guide for Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridges, an infrastructure how-to bible. Since designing the Hovenring the company has secured bridge commissions across the world.
