Rolling London Footbridge Surprises Spectators

摘要

Like a playwright observing the faces of the audience on opening night, British designer Thomas Heatherwick takes pleasure in observing passersby as his latest creation—a movable pedestrian bridge—slowly rises into the air. "You even have to persuade people to stand there and watch it open, because they think that it's going to be boring," Heatherwick says. "Then they break into a big smile." Onlookers' smiles are a natural reaction to the unexpectedly whimsical motion of the Rolling Bridge, which crosses a branch of a canal in an area of London known as Paddington Basin. In its horizontal position, the 12 m long, 1.5 m wide crossing appears to be a rather conventional structure with a steel frame and a timber deck. Unlike a typical bascule span, however, the bridge does not remain straight as it rises, but gradually rolls up until its ends meet, transforming itself into a sort of freestanding octagonal sculpture.