Remember our blog last week about the Murinsel bridge in Austria? Well, we enjoy these fun bridges so much that we decided to bring you another extraordinary structure. The fascinating bridge pictured above is located in London, England at an inlet of the Grand Union Canal at Paddington Basin. The purpose of the “Rolling Bridge” is to give people in the area a convenient route across the inlet to their jobs and homes. But why a rolling bridge?
Boats must be able to access the inlet, which made designing the bridge a bit tricky. Bridge designer Heatherwick Studio saw this as an opportunity to create an extremely unique structure. Here’s how it works, according to Heatherwick’s website:
Rolling Bridge opens by slowly and smoothly curling until it transforms from a conventional, straight bridge, into a circular sculpture which sits on the bank of the canal. The structure opens using a series of hydraulic rams integrated into the balustrade. As it curls, each of its eight segments simultaneously lifts, causing it to roll until the two ends touch and form a circle.
Sounds pretty interesting right? Other people think so too, as the bridge has received a number of rewards for its innovative architecture. The bridge has become quite the spectacle for people passing by at midday on Fridays. That’s right; this bridge only gets rolled up once a week. If you want to check it out, make sure you go during this time. Or, to make it easier for you, watch this video of the Rolling Bridge in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0Dj7XA77hw
