Floodable Bridge Ter in Manlleu River / Sau Taller d’Arquitectura
Textual content description offered by the architects. The principle goal of the venture is to turn into a catalyst for actions of leisure, tradition, sports activities, and schooling across the Ter riverbed in Manlleu. The target might be defined by three fundamental methods:
The primary one is a territorial logic selling the riverbeds as areas of panorama curiosity. The second is the city technique, consolidating the inexperienced recreational-cultural axis tangent to the river. And the third one is the technical answer, a really punctual motion with low environmental influence.
THE TERRITORIAL LOGIC, THE INTER-MUNICIPAL SCALE: THE RIVERBED. The venture pursues the target of recovering the exercise of the riverbeds. The riverbeds, by definition, have at all times been magnificent ecotones, that’s, areas that dwell from the ecosystem of the river itself and from the instantly adjoining one; the intermediate areas. These areas have nice landscapes and environmental wealth. As they go by way of the city facilities they’ve been deserted, channeling the river and forming a barrier between the floodable and non-floodable areas. The proposal relies on the conviction that, if we return actions to those locations and blur the road between the river and town, we are going to enrich them, thus selling upkeep and the sensation of belonging.
THE MUNICIPAL LOGIC, THE URBAN STRATEGY: A GREEN AXIS. Manlleu has lived from and due to the river: agricultural and industrial exercise has benefited from the format of the Ter river. If the city construction is analyzed, it may be seen how in durations of nice city improvement, the city has turned its again on the river. Lately, the world has been promoted based mostly on free areas, cultural services, and sports activities areas. Thus, a brand new leisure-cultural axis seems tangent to the river on the left-hand facet. That is an axis that have to be strengthened. An axis that begins on the Renfe Station, on the excessive west, and continues by way of the sports activities space, the playgrounds, and the Paseo del Ter till it reaches the Ter Museum, on the excessive east. Proper right here, the place there’s a kiosk and a small jetty for kayaks, the course of the river kinds a meander and generates a big meadow of about 30 ha on the right-hand mattress.
The principle goal of the venture is to permit the leap from the left riverbed to the suitable, resulting in a complete recreational-cultural axis in a big space that has been residual till now. On this approach, Manlleu features 30,000 m2 of free area. An area filled with prospects, from purely contemplative (strolling by way of the meadow is a luxurious) to sports activities (creation of recent pure areas for the follow of sport that respects the surroundings). Instructional actions can be promoted, virtually as an extension of the Ter Museum, an open-air museum the place not solely the significance of the river and the ecosystems that encompass it may be understood and defined, but additionally its heritage worth.
THE CONSTRUCTIVE LOGIC AND TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS. Amongst all the chances, a passallis-walkway is chosen, since they’re infrastructures with low environmental influence. A “passallis”, by definition, is a floodable aspect. Thus, they’re artifacts which might be natur
ally included into the dynamics of the river. The venture proposes a sequence of concrete platforms that evoke the outdated steps of the river the place one might go from one riverbed to the opposite by leaping from stone to stone.
The geometry responds to the precise wants within the fluvial surroundings and due to this fact there isn’t a formalism however an environment friendly response to the hydraulic and purposeful calls for. Some 25cm thick concrete partitions, perpendicular to the river movement, positioned 2.25m aside, assure the hydraulic capability for the typical day by day movement. Above, cantilevered 10cm deep concrete platforms of 1.5m x 3.95m decrease the influence on the movement. The platforms don’t contact one another and, on this approach, the construction stays open, enhancing the hydraulic conduct of the “passallis” in episodes of huge outpourings of water. Between platform and platform are the metallic rails, which, along with offering the passage with the required accessibility even for service autos, assist with upkeep since they’re detachable.
When passing from one riverbed to the opposite, the pedestrian finds herself outdoors the consolation zone of the city ecosystem and, unprotected turns into conscious of the drive of the river. The noise of the water brushing in opposition to the partitions, the humidity, and the change in temperature, all assist to really feel immersed within the river ecosystem.
Over time, the floodable bridge will evolve: the colour of the concrete will change relying on the water ranges, the partitions will present scars of stones and trunks attributable to the episodes of assorted floods of water, and the metallic framework will darken resulting from photo voltaic radiation. On this approach, the “passallis” might be remodeled, just like the banks of the riverbed, into an ecotone: a transition zone between two ecosystems, the city and the fluvial.
