Year: 2010
Credits: Idea, design and structural concept: Stephan Henrich; Calculations by Knippers-Helbig Advanced Engineering; Competition entry together with Iassen Markov, Stuttgart (Museum-Design) and Stephan Henrich (Bridge-Design)
Competition entry for a foot-bridge in Maribor, Slovenia as one of Europe’s cultural capitals in 2012.
Structural Design Concept:
The footbridge above the river Drava in Maribor is a tensigrity truss bridge with a single span of approximately 130m and a clear width of 5m.The loads from pedestrians and cyclists will be taken by a slim concrete deck and open steel mesh flooring which are supported by cross beams at regular centers.The cross beams will be supported in return by the main structural element, two large tensigrity truss girders. The girders consist of compression elements in the middle and tension elements running longitudinally which are connected to the compression element to create one space structure. The beams act like a simple haunched trusses with heights of the chords of 2,5m at the supports and approximately 8m at midpspan. Stiffness of the beam is derived by pre-stressing the tension elements to create a compression free top chord. The pre-stress force is tied back into the foundations at both ends of the bridge. (text: KHing)