Built: 2001 Cost: US$1,000,000.00 Designed by: Studio 3LHD Type: Bridge Maximum height: 9 meters Maximum width: 5.4 meters Maximum length: 47 meters Location: Spanning the Dead Canal, Rijeka, Croatia
T he early years of the 21st century have brought a number of fascinating bridge projects to Europe. From the Millennium Bridges in the United Kingdom to this pedestrian bridge spanning the Dead Canal in Rijeka. It is a wonderful piece of work. Simplistic in appearance, but with a significant visual impact. During the day it appears as a smooth slab extending from Korzo to Delta. It is so perfect and incongruous with its surroundings that the bridge appears almost otherworldly. This sense is heightened at night when it is bathed in calm, cool LED light reflected by the water just inches below. It is called Memorial Bridge because it incorporates a monument to the Croatian soldiers who fought for their country. It was in the Delta neighborhood that they gathered before being shipped off to the front. It includes a place where the public can leave flowers, candles, and other tributes. In the words of Marko Dabrovic:
"Our response to the task was to create a bridge as a monument, to equalize the utilitarian and symbolic functions, construction and form. The structure consists of two archetypal elements – a plank laid over the canal as the bridge and a slab driven into the earth as the monument. These two elements are joined into a homogeneous and strong L-shaped form which from a horizontal of the bridge breaks into a vertical of the monument. Symbolic emphasis is accomplished by a cleft in the vertical element and a red memorial slab in the cleft extension. In other words, the task we set ourselves was to make a structure that would dominate the area, while at the same time awakening an intimate feeling, that is -- to create a ‘monument for walking'."
The bridge was assembled at a shipyard and floated into place. A special barge had to be built to move the structure because it had to sail underneath existing bridges on the same canal. It gets its special color from planks of aluminum-magnesium alloy that enhance its appeal and help it resist sea salt corrosion. The railing is made of glass topped by a wooden hand rail.
Height above water: 1.5 meters / 5 feet.
Bridge deck thickness: 65 centimeters / 2 feet.
May, 2002: The Memorial Bridge wins the Croatian architectural award for best project realization of 2001.
Julian Salerno
October 19th, 2002
I was in Rijeka in Sep-Oct 2001 and stayed at the nearby Kontinental hotel. We saw the initial work happening and wondered what the impetus was for such a bridge. Now we know ! Look forward to crossing it when I return next year.
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Julian Salerno