Latest plans for Alma Bridge passed by County Council > "the proposal provides a high-quality link"

Back in September, the planning authority formally agreed to a new bridge at the mouth of the River Sid:
Futures Forum: Latest plans for Alma Bridge passed by County Council > "The bridge will be very welcome."

With the full picture here:

18/1869/CM | A new pedestrian footbridge is proposed which will replace the existing Alma footbridge which is located at the mouth of the River Sid at the eastern end of the Sidmouth Seafront. The new bridge and approach ramps will be sited approximately 37m upstream of the existing bridge. Once the new bridge has been completed the old bridge will be demolished. | Alma Bridge The Esplanade Sidmouth

It has now been "signed off by the council’s planning department."

As reported this weekend in the Herald: 

New River Sid footbridge plans approved

28 November 2018

Sam Cooper

The newly approved plans for the River Sid footbridge. Picture: Devon County Council

The £750,000 plans to build a new bridge over the River Sid have been given the final approval for work to begin.

The application came direct from Devon County Council, which applied to replace the 130 year old Alma Bridge.

The bridge is in poor condition and likely to be lost in the next few years. It had been hoped the works would begin this autumn but they have been postponed until after FolkWeek in August 2019 and will last for around six months. The new bridge will have a minimum life span of 40 years and will be installed 37 metres upstream of the existing bridge. The installation could see the fencing off of the Ham and the current footpath leading up to Cliff Road will be closed.

New River Sid footbridge plans approved | Latest Sidmouth and Ottery News - Sidmouth Herald

And by Devon Live:

Plans to replace Sidmouth seafront bridge approved

The Alma Bridge will be replaced next year

Daniel Clark Local Democracy Reporter
20 NOV 2018

SIDMOUTH SHED ON CLIFF EDGE

Plans for a new £750,000 footbridge over the River Sid on Sidmouth seafront have been approved.

Devon County Council’s own application to replace the 130-year-old Alma Bridge with a new structure, 37 metres upstream from the existing bridge, has been signed off by the council’s planning department.

The new bridge will have a minimum life span of 40 years and needs to be installed as the existing Alma Bridge, which is in poor condition, in anticipation to be lost within the next few years due to the ongoing coastal erosion.

New artist impressions of the proposed Alma Bridge in Sidmouth

But while the building works for the new bridge are taking place, the popular seafront recreation ground, the Ham, could be fenced-off, while the Hanger Path, the current footpath leading up to Cliff Road will be closed.

The works, which will last around six months, were initially hoped to begin this autumn, but Devon County Council has decided to postpone them until after FolkWeek in August 2019.

Approving the scheme, council planning officers said: “It is considered that the proposal provides a high-quality link, which responds to the constraints and character of the area, allowing access to protected landscapes and areas. While there may be some impacts during construction, these are considered temporary and outweighed by the benefits of the proposal, which provides a sustainable link for the future.

New artist impressions of the proposed Alma Bridge in Sidmouth

“The construction period, which is anticipated to be 24 weeks, will result in the loss of open space. However, this is considered temporary and the area will be reinstated, and a small area of footpath will be lost, but this is considered negligble.”

A planning statement submitted with the application added: “A new pedestrian footbridge is proposed which will replace the existing Alma footbridge located at the mouth of the River Sid at the eastern end of Sidmouth Seafront.

New artist impressions of the proposed Alma Bridge in Sidmouth

“The existing bridge structure is in poor condition and the foundations have suffered several significant scour events. Hence to allow the bridge to remain open, as a precaution, a temporary scaffold bridge over-spanning it was installed in 2012.

“Due to the ongoing significant coastal erosion it is anticipated this temporary arrangement will be lost within the next few years.”

There has been a bridge in this general location for at least 130 years linking up the town of Sidmouth on either side of the River Sid, and the replacement bridge scheme will secure the South West Coast-Path at Sidmouth for the foreseeable future, the documents say.

Alma Bridge in Sidmouth as it is at the moment

They add: “The existing bridge will remain open during the new bridge construction to allow a route for beach access and emergency beach egress only.”

Hanger Path, the current footpath leading from Alma Bridge to Cliff Road though will be closed for the duration of the construction works, lasting around six months, as a section of it will have to be realigned.

Plans to replace Sidmouth seafront bridge approved - Devon Live
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Latest plans for Alma Bridge passed by County Council > "The bridge will be very welcome."

The proposed replacement bridge at the mouth of the River Sid has been considered by the County Council:
Futures Forum: Latest plans for Alma Bridge to be considered by County Council

It's design has been controversial:
Futures Forum: Design of new Alma Bridge: "While some decribed it as 'hideous' and 'ugly', others said it was 'impressive' and the town was 'very lucky' to have secured funding."
Futures Forum: Design of new Alma Bridge released >>> "the proposal isn’t the prettiest footbridge but the engineer is literally up against a hard place, ie a steep sided cliff face"
Futures Forum: "The Ham needs something rather more special: the proposed new Alma Bridge is functional but undistinctive"
Futures Forum: The 'monstrous inappropriateness' of the new Alma Bridge design >>> 'The position cries out for delicate curves not flint like hard slabs.'Futures Forum: Design of new Alma Bridge released 

It has now been passed: 

Plans for new £750k Alma Bridge near Sidmouth seafront given final go-ahead

PUBLISHED: 17:00 04 October 2018

Beth Sharp

Artist’s impressions of what the new Alma Bridge will look like when it is finished.

Plans for a new £750,000 footbridge over the River Sid in Sidmouth have been given the green light by planning bosses.

The new Alma Bridge will be positioned approximately 37 metres upstream from the existing structure near Pennington Point.

Temporary scaffolding was installed to keep the current bridge open in 2012. Coastal erosion meant this temporary arrangement would only last a few more years though.

Works were originally set to start on the new bridge this autumn but following a consultation, the applicant - Devon County Council (DCC) - decided to postpone it until after FolkWeek - in August 2019.

This was to give planners time to incorporate suggestions from members of the public into the final design, including features like a viewing platform.

The new proposals will see the circled steps filled in to create a new ramped access to the replacement for Alma Bridge

The works are expected to be finished by the following March - during its construction, part of The Ham recreation ground will be closed. And, once the works are completed, the old bridge will be demolished.

The crossing over the River Sid will remain open while the works are undertaken to allow access on to the beach.

The proposals include short sections of steep ramps to a 19-metre main bridge which will cross the River Sid. The ramps will, however, be no steeper than the Hanger Path.

Artists' impressions of what the new Alma Bridge will look like. Picture: Contributed

Both Natural England and the Environment Agency are in support of the location of the new bridge, which will be placed where it is protected from medium term coastal erosion, say DCC.

It is anticipated that the proposed Sidmouth Beach Management Plan, currently under development by East Devon District Council, will be completed by 2022 - this will slow coastal erosion to provide greater protection for the bridge.

County Councillor Stuart Hughes said: “It is about getting a bridge that people really want. It is going to last for the foreseeable future - at least the next 50 years.

Artists' impressions of what the new Alma Bridge will look like. Picture: Contributed

“The bridge will be very welcome.

“I am sure people will appreciate it, that the council has listened to the views of the public and put in the additional features that were suggested during the consultation exercise.”

Plans for new £750k Alma Bridge near Sidmouth seafront given final go-ahead | Latest Sidmouth and Ottery News - Sidmouth Herald
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Latest plans for Alma Bridge to be considered by County Council

The design of a replacement for Alma Bridge has been controversial:
Futures Forum: Design of new Alma Bridge: "While some decribed it as 'hideous' and 'ugly', others said it was 'impressive' and the town was 'very lucky' to have secured funding."
Futures Forum: Design of new Alma Bridge released >>> "the proposal isn’t the prettiest footbridge but the engineer is literally up against a hard place, ie a steep sided cliff face"
Futures Forum: "The Ham needs something rather more special: the proposed new Alma Bridge is functional but undistinctive"
Futures Forum: The 'monstrous inappropriateness' of the new Alma Bridge design >>> 'The position cries out for delicate curves not flint like hard slabs.'Futures Forum: Design of new Alma Bridge released
Futures Forum: Latest plans for Alma Bridge to be considered by Town Council

It looks as though the final plans have been put together - and will be looked at by the County Council’s development management committee in due course: 
Plans for new £750k Alma Bridge at Sidmouth officially submitted | Latest Sidmouth and Ottery News - Sidmouth Herald 

This is from Devon Live:

New Sidmouth bridge will cause six months of disruption

Formal plans for a new £750,000 footbridge over the River Sid on Sidmouth seafront have been submitted.

COMMENTS

Daniel Clark Local Democracy Reporter
0 AUG 2018



New artist impressions of the proposed Alma Bridge in Sidmouth
by Taboola

The formal plans for a new £750,000 footbridge over the River Sid on Sidmouth seafront have been submitted. The new bridge will be further inland to prevent it falling into the sea as the coast erodes.

Devon County Council’s own application to replace the 130-year-old Alma Bridge with a new structure, 37 metres upstream from the existing bridge, has been validated by the council - but could lead to six months of disruption.

While the building works for the new bridge are taking place, the popular seafront recreation ground, the Ham, could be fenced-off, while the Hanger Path, the current footpath leading up to Cliff Road will be closed.

Sidmouth Town Council, the Devon Countryside Access Forum, East Devon Ramblers, Devon Public Rights of Way team, South West Coast Path team and the Devon Safety Audit were all consulted on the plans prior to the plans being submitted and a public exhibition on the scheme was held in April.



New artist impressions of the proposed Alma Bridge in Sidmouth

Cllr Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for bridges and local County Councillor for Sidmouth, said: “A lot of thought and effort has gone into the design of this bridge to ensure it’s accessible to all users as well as being an attractive addition to this end of the town.”

A planning statement submitted with the application says: “A new pedestrian footbridge is proposed which will replace the existing Alma footbridge located at the mouth of the River Sid at the eastern end of Sidmouth Seafront.

“The existing bridge structure is in poor condition and the foundations have suffered several significant scour events. Hence to allow the bridge to remain open, as a precaution, a temporary scaffold bridge over-spanning it was installed in 2012.

“Due to the ongoing significant coastal erosion it is anticipated this temporary arrangement will be lost within the next few years.”



Alma Bridge in Sidmouth as it is at the moment

There has been a bridge in this general location for at least 130 years linking up the town of Sidmouth on either side of the River Sid., and the proposed replacement bridge scheme will secure the South West Coast-Path at Sidmouth for the foreseeable future, the documents say.

They add: “The existing bridge will remain open during the new bridge construction to allow a route for beach access and emergency beach egress only.”

Hanger Path, the current footpath leading from Alma Bridge to Cliff Road though will be closed for the duration of the construction works, lasting around six months, as a section of it will have to be realigned.

Devon County Council’s development management committee were determine the fate of the application at a later date.

New Sidmouth bridge will cause six months of disruption - Devon Live
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Design of new Alma Bridge: "While some decribed it as 'hideous' and 'ugly', others said it was 'impressive' and the town was 'very lucky' to have secured funding."

The District Council's proposals for the replacement for Alma Bridge have caused quite a bit of excitement:

Futures Forum: Design of new Alma Bridge released >>> "the proposal isn’t the prettiest footbridge but the engineer is literally up against a hard place, ie a steep sided cliff face"

Futures Forum: "The Ham needs something rather more special: the proposed new Alma Bridge is functional but undistinctive"

Futures Forum: The 'monstrous inappropriateness' of the new Alma Bridge design >>> 'The position cries out for delicate curves not flint like hard slabs.'

The Herald gives further feedback from the public:

Sidmouth and Ottery breaking news and sport - Sidmouth Herald 

See also:

Futures Forum: Design of new Alma Bridge released

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Design of new Alma Bridge released >>> "the proposal isn’t the prettiest footbridge but the engineer is literally up against a hard place, ie a steep sided cliff face"

Proposals for a new bridge at the mouth of the River Sid went on display last week:
Futures Forum: Design of new Alma Bridge released
Futures Forum: Beach Management Plan: on BBC Spotlight tonight and at Kennaway House Thursday 19th April

It caused a fair amount of controversy:
Futures Forum: "The Ham needs something rather more special: the proposed new Alma Bridge is functional but undistinctive"
Futures Forum: The 'monstrous inappropriateness' of the new Alma Bridge design >>> >>> 'The position cries out for delicate curves not flint like hard slabs.'

Here are the drawings:

It is understood that the images are still preliminary and subject to further development.

The County Council is as yet unable to issue the technical drawings as these are still  in development. When the drawings have been completed and submitted for planning they can be viewed on the DCC planning portal by the general public. 

Nevertheless, a correspondent who was at the exhibition has sent in photographs of the techinical drawings on display:

As the correspondent says:

Having attended the presentation I can see the proposal isn’t the prettiest footbridge but the engineer is literally up against a hard place, ie a steep sided cliff face.  

There are therefore clear practical limitations not least disabled access and the funding. The  main engineering concern is securing the eastern abutment to the cliffs, while providing a safe landing. Compared with the recommended incline of 1 in 12, the 1 in 6 slope is apparently no steeper than the current Hangar Path. As it is a steep climb I suggested he introduces a rest-point integrated into the top of the eastern buttress from where visitors can enjoy a splendid view! 

A further element which requires attention is the parapet and the handrails which is the point where users come into contact with the bridge and I would suggest simplification and elegant detailing is required.

The final submission will be placed here:
Planning | Devon County Council
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"The Ham needs something rather more special: the proposed new Alma Bridge is functional but undistinctive"

Proposals for a new bridge over the River Sid have been published:
Futures Forum: Design of new Alma Bridge released

These were on view yesterday:
Futures Forum: Beach Management Plan: on BBC Spotlight tonight and at Kennaway House Thursday 19th April

Not everyone has been impressed:
Futures Forum: The 'monstrous inappropriateness' of the new Alma Bridge design >>> >>> 'The position cries out for delicate curves not flint like hard slabs.'

Here is further comment from a correspondent:

The proposed new Alma Bridge is a functional but undistinctive design.

It certainly lacks elegance and its box shape buttresses may impact brutally on the natural setting.

The problem lies with the reach height and incline of the ramps which are restricted to 12deg max.

It appears the engineers have succeeded in providing disabled access but at a cost of aesthetic delight.

I suppose an easy solution would be to round-off the corners and make the profiles of the landings more organic.

A curved deck with steel supports would be less imposing - see Castleford and Derry bridges attached.

 Castleford Bridge | Benedetti Architects | Archinect

SSDA Award: Peace Bridge, Derry-Londonderry | newsteelconstruction.com

The views from the bridge could have been very exciting.

The Ham needs something rather more special.

There are in fact lots of very exciting designs out there:
Pedestrian Bridges and Footbridges with Amazing Design Photos | Architectural Digest
Engineering Timelines - Gateshead Millennium Bridge

Vancouver Pedestrian Land Bridge

Living green bridge keeps wildlife safe from a busy highway | Inhabitat - Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building

Jarrold Bridge, Norwich - Steelconstruction.info
SSDA Commendation: Jarrold Bridge, Norwich | newsteelconstruction.com

Pedestrian Bridge in Zapallar / Enrique Browne | ArchDaily
Bridge in Zapallar - Data, Photos & Plans - WikiArquitectura

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Beach Management Plan: on BBC Spotlight tonight and at Kennaway House Thursday 19th April

This evening, the Beach Management Plan was a feature on Spotlight:
BBC iPlayer - Spotlight - Evening News: 18/04/2018 

With commentary on the BBC: 

Sidmouth residents asked to pay £3m towards flood defences

Sophie Pierce

BBC Radio Devon

Local people and businesses in a coastal Devon town are being asked to help pay towards the cost of a new £9m flood defence scheme.

Sidmouth's eastern cliffs, which protect the town from flooding, are vulnerable and eroding at the rate of about a metre a year.

East Devon District Council is asking locals and businesses to contribute £3m towards the project.

But many locals do not see why they should pay, and are accusing the council of having wasted time and money over the last decade, "fiddling while Rome burns".

East Devon District Council is completely committed to this project. We have already invested over £500,000 of our own money into the research, investigations and all the other necessary work that is done. If we can find another £3m, we can then unlock funding just under £6m from Defra, who are the primary agency concerned with flood protection."

Tom WrightEnvironment Porfolio, East Devon District Council

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BBC Local Live: Devon & Cornwall - BBC News

The Plan will be on show tomorrow:
Futures Forum: Beach Management Plan: public exhibition 19th April > an opportunity for local people to learn more about outline design to help flooding and erosion in Sidmouth

With the Herald giving further info:

Exhibition on Sidmouth Beach Management Plan to be held in Sidmouth

PUBLISHED: 12:00 14 April 2018

Beth Sharp

This photograph of Pennington Point and East Cliff was taken for the BMP by a drone at lower altitude. If you look carefully you can see circular waves with their centre at the end of the river training wall. This is wave diffraction and it can cause erosion.

A public exhibition showcasing the latest works on the Sidmouth Beach Management Plan (BMP) will take place next week.

The event will be held at Kennaway House between 1pm and 7pm next Thursday (April 19).

Those who attend will be given the opportunity to learn about the background of the outline design for the East Devon District Council scheme.

The drive aims to reduce the risk of flooding to Sidmouth by maintaining the standard of defences along the beach and to reduce the rate of erosion to the cliffs to the east of the town.

Royal HaskoningDHV will be on hand to answer questions and residents will also be asked for their views.

Devon County Council will also be displaying information about the replacement Alma Bridge, in advance of submitting its planning application.

Councillor Tom Wright, BMP steering group’s chairman, said: “A lot of effort has gone into bringing forwards a scheme for Sidmouth and East Beach, so it would be great to see local people coming along to learn more about what the scheme could look like and to give us their views.”

Exhibition on Sidmouth Beach Management Plan to be held in Sidmouth | Latest Sidmouth and Ottery News - Sidmouth Herald
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The 'monstrous inappropriateness' of the new Alma Bridge design >>> >>> 'The position cries out for delicate curves not flint like hard slabs.'

BBC Spotlight will be on the Ham tomorrow lunchtime to interview locals on what they think of the proposed designs for a replacement bridge over the River Sid:
Futures Forum: Design of new Alma Bridge released

The latest Herald carried the 'scoop' on the front page: 

Sidmouth and Ottery breaking news and sport - Sidmouth Herald

The comment on this blog to the design had been:

Considerable time and money has been put into the new project - so, whilst the base will be of flint, it nevertheless contrasts with the red sandstone cliffs along the River Sid - plus, the metal railings are not exactly the same as the original Alma Bridge of Victorian design

Since then, several other comments have been received by observers. Here are a few such observations:

It's not a very flattering picture of the new bridge. (Perhaps you can't make any picture of the proposal that would disguise its monstrous inappropriateness.) 

The trouble is there are two vernaculars for the designers to refer to in our town - the delicate or the brutal. Read Rising Bray's memories of the Ham with its gasworks and pig-sties and the river full of dead dogs and cats and occasional unwanted babies. [See: Futures Forum: Dramatic cliff falls on Eastern Beach - and at Hanger Cliff: "our common assets"]
This is the tradition we shall commemorate with our new bridge, which will abolish sentimentality when residents of Glenisla Terrace gaze out of our bedroom windows in future. 

Oh dear, it's a bridge that's been designed by an engineer. The best looking bridges are designed by architects or artists who then ask engineer's how to build it.

There should be a beautiful, iconic bridge here, not least because of its history and its setting.

I think they are trying to channel the 1970s walls along the river front   I know the original low walls were 1929 but the whole character was changed when they just built them higher.

I am sure we could have done something better, I know iron is never ending maintenance so we can’t do an Iron Bridge but some modern bridges are beautiful. We need something ‘ethereal’ not heavy blocks. I will be speaking to them next Thurs!

[The Alma Bridge designs will be on show at Kennaway House this week: 
Futures Forum: Beach Management Plan: public exhibition 19th April > an opportunity for local people to learn more about outline design to help flooding and erosion in Sidmouth]

Something better would be "Art Nouveau brought up to date and something organic which would fit with the setting."

The last post about the Drill Hall included this link to a bridge design a new bridge 

The bridges in it are designed be designers and engineers: that type of design combination is best.
Perhaps you could include the link it in your blog to show how much better it is to design bridges this way.
In the link look at the video of bridges designed by designers and engineers, its inspiring. 

Why not suggest the design of the replacement Alma Bridge could use some if this inspiration?

It may be that the new Alma Bridge can't be constructed using 3d printing due to possible strength limitations. If it can't be used, then the the ideas and the design potential could be used for inspiration to make the new Alma bridge look far better than the proposed one.

The position cries out for delicate curves not flint like hard slabs.

Here's the 'alternative' design referred to above: 

The First 3D-Printed Steel Bridge Looks Like It Broke Off an Alien Mothership

Adam Clark Estes

4/02/18 2:30pm

A steel deck will cover the curved supports on the bottom of the bridgePhoto: Adriaan de Groot

The plan to 3D-print a bridge in mid-air was always bonkers. How could a technology best known for creating flimsy prototypes and personalized action figures be used for permanent construction projects? Well, the team at MX3D in Amsterdam just answered all of the hard questions and revealed it: the world’s first 3D-printed bridge. It’s made of a completely new type of steel, spans 40 feet, and will be installed early next year in De Wallen, the largest and best-known red-light district in Amsterdam. It also looks utterly otherworldly.

The newly printed bridge just arrived back in MX3D’s workshop in north Amsterdam from a larger facility outside the city. There, the team of designers and engineers that has been working on the project for years will test the bridge’s integrity and add some finishing touches, including a clear coat to protect the ruddy steel exterior from the elements and a steel deck—which is basically just a huge plate of traditional steel—that will serve as a walkway. The final phase will include the installation of a series of smart sensors that will monitor the bridge’s health and take a slew of measurements in real-time, including air quality and weight dispersion so the bridge will actually know how many people are walking on it and how quickly they’re moving. The sensor data will also be fed to a “digital twin” bridge model that will help engineers understand how the bridge is performing over time and make tweaks to future designs accordingly.

Safety is a key part of all of these tests and the sensor network that will follow. Given the fact that a 3D-printed bridge like this has never existed, MX3D worked with the city to establish a unique, new safety standard as well as a testing plan to ensure the bridge’s lasting integrity. The sensor network will also enable engineers to monitor and address safety issues with such accuracy that the 3D-printed might well be the safest bridge in the city.

“Last Thursday we tested out the bridge with 30 people, and it was fine. It behaves like a bridge like it should,” MX3D co-founder Gijs van der Velden told Gizmodo in an interview. “With the bridge deck on top, it will be even stronger.”

But obviously, the bridge’s 3D-printed construction will turn heads. It has since 2015, when MX3D shocked the world by announcing plans to 3D-print the bridge in mid-air over one of Amsterdam’s canals. That concept explored the possibility of using a new custom-designed type 3D-printing robots that could create weight-bearing structures below them and then slide forward as the hot building material set. These so-called MX3D bots could build things of any size by moving around the object in open air rather than inside of a machine. Theoretically, such technology would let them print massive structures safely on location.

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“When we launched the idea, we just printed one art piece,” van der Velden said. “So [the bridge] was also a real moonshot project for us, because we didn’t know what this technology would make possible for us.”

The genesis of the 3D-printed bridge was unconventional to say the least. In 2004, Joris Laarman founded a design lab in Amsterdam and began experimenting with various materials and applications for various technologies. Much of Laarman’s work looked to natural designs for inspiration, but a growing interest in technology led to the development of a six-axis robot that could do large-scale, free-form 3D printing and the founding of MX3D. Whereas traditional 3D-printing takes place inside of a machine, this new type of technology could print in mid-air without conventional limitations.

Laarman and his co-founders first used the new MX3D printers for several experiments before creating a sculpture called The Dragon Bench. This art piece used a combination of metals to create a self-supporting structure that looks a big rusty wave. Dragon Bench sculptures are now in museum collections around the world, but the piece also served as a proof of concept for the much larger, more practical, and more ambitious bridge project.

MX3D didn’t quite make it to the proverbial moon on this first attempt. In 2015, Laarman and the team partnered various companies and organizations, namely the American software company Autodesk, and demonstrated their machines’ capacity to create a weight-bearing structure on a small scale. They also announced plans to print the full-sized bridge in open air over an Amsterdam canal. The City of Amsterdam hired MX3D to provide a bridge that would replace an existing structure on its canals. According to van der Velden, the project’s budget was comparable to what the city would have paid for a traditional bridge with additional funding to come from several sponsors.

“[Amsterdam city officials] have collaborated with us, Arup, and Imperial College London to define a method for evaluating the safety of the bridge as, of course for a novel production like this, there is no standard code,” van der Velden explained. “Their open attitude towards such a new and unconventional project was essential to make this project a success.”

The MX3D bridge (Photo: Thijs Wolzak)

However, the plan to print the bridge in mid-air later changed. After more deliberation and testing, the team decided to move the 3D-printing process into a large studio space where they had control over the environment and where pedestrians couldn’t interfere. The bridge designers also changed the blueprints pretty significantly. Instead of pursuing a form that looked more like a bone structure, they settled on something that looks like two billowing sheets of fabric connected by organic curves of 3D-printed steel. The whole thing looks somehow informed by H.R. Giger and would be right at home in an Alien movie.

What’s especially unique about this design is how MX3D decided to leave the surface rather rough. The 3D-printing process involves a robot applying layer-after-layer of steel onto the bridge. This creates a ribbed surface that can be buffed out which makes it look more like traditional steel, but the finished bridge will keep this raw appearance. It actually makes the bridge almost appear to be alive.

“If you look at the bridge right now in our workshop it’s very strange,” Laarman told Gizmodo. “It’s a little bit like being in a science fiction story because it looks so different than everything else around. We work in a highly industrial shipyard where everything is geometric in shape, but this bridge doesn’t have a single straight line.”

The strangeness of the bridge offers a clue into the remarkable possibilities of the technology that helped to create it. While MX3D does have plans to build more bridges—it has several projects already in the pipeline, though none of the plans are concrete—the company also wants to leverage this new process of 3D-printing steel for commercial purposes. In the maritime, aviation, and commercial construction industries, there’s often a need to create a single unique piece that requires a cast to be constructed and used only once. The nature of 3D-printing means that pieces like this can be built and customized on the fly at a much lower cost. They can be designed to weigh less, as well, thanks to 3D-modeling software.

One can only imagine what would be possible if MX3D does manage to let loose its team of mobile 3D-printing robots completely. In the engineers’ minds, these robots could scale buildings, creating custom facades on the construction site and organic shapes that wouldn’t be possible using conventional methods. Lighter components would also make for all kinds of new forms in buildings, designs that we haven’t even thought of yet.

But first, the bridge. Commissioned by the city of Amsterdam, the new 3D-printed bridge will be span the Oudezijds Achterburgwal canal where it crosses Stoofsteeg, an alleyway in the red-light district. There’s currently a temporary bridge in place, and it’s not hard to see how the MX3D-built structure will be a huge improvement.

The future location of the MX3D bridge over the Oudezijds Achterburgwal canal in AmsterdamPhoto: Adam Clark Estes (Gizmodo)

All things told, it took MX3D a year to get the bridge into its current condition. The company’s engineers will be completing a couple final spirals for either end of the bridge in the north Amsterdam studio over the next six months, as it conducts a series of tests in partnership with Arup and Imperial College London. In the meantime, the city of Amsterdam will be renovating the walls of the 15th-century canals around the Oudezijds Achterburgwal canal. The bridge’s final installation will take place once those improvements are completed. And as far as MX3D is concerned, this is only the beginning.

“When the bridge came in, even I started believe myself and my stories about how great this technology is—instantly,” said van der Velden. “It’s such a massive structure that immediately, even if you’re not a technician or someone who’s been playing around with this tech for years, you can see that steel objects are going to change drastically in the coming years.”

Amsterdam is the place to watch for these big changes, too. There’s already a partially 3D-printed bridge near Amsterdam in the village of Gemert, though the concrete block design is rudimentary compared to the MX3D bridge. Meanwhile, not far from MX3D’s studio, a consortium of architects are working on 3D-printing an entire canal house. As is the case with many large-scale 3D-printing projects, it’s unclear how far along they are.

So many of these ambitious and futuristic 3D-printing projects fail to make it further than the headline-grabbing concept stage. We’ve seen the world’s largest free-form 3D printer create beams for home construction in Tennessee. We’ve seen a Chinese company 3D print ten houses in a single day. There are countless large-scale 3D-printing experiments out in the world but still so few real things that real people use.

But so far, it looks like MX3D is the exception. These designers and engineers actually 3D-printed a bridge. They stood on it, walked across it, took pictures with it. The 3D-printed bridge is a real thing.

The First 3D-Printed Steel Bridge Looks Like It Broke Off an Alien Mothership
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