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Wednesday 31 August 2022

THE ROLLING BRIDGE

 The rolling bridge was conceived by Thomas Heatherwick.  It consists of eight triangular  sections hinged at the walkway level and connected above by two-part links that can be collapsed towards the deck by hydraulic cylinders mounted vertically between the sections. When extended,  it resembles a conventional steel and timber footbridge and is 12 meters long.  To allow the passage of boats,  the hydraulic pistons are activated and the bridge curls up until its 2 ends join.  The bridge  won the the British Constructional Steelwork Associations  British Structural Steel Design Award.

This bridge was completed in 2004 as part of the Grand Union Canal office and retail development project at Paddington Basin,  London. 


Applique,  paint, stitching form the background.  The rolled up and the fully rolled out images are painted stitch and tear which painted proved to be quite tolerant of the cutting and stitching. The bridge rolled out also proved a problem as I could not get the whole bridge in without minimizing the scale of the bridge. I also would have preferred to have got a 2d effect of the bridge but time was not on my side as I to finish it before I left for the UK.   Other than that I am quite happy with the result.  

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6 comments:

  1. Patricia A'Bear31 August 2022 at 14:17

    Well done Phil. From the start it looks so complicated and yet you have brought a piece together which highlights how cleverly the bridge was thought out and constructed. Well done on bringing all the different elements together so well to make a great piece.

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  2. Hilary31 August 2022 at 15:36

    Oh wow! Thanks for bringing this bridge to my attention. I had not come across it before although I am a great admirer of Thomas Heatherwick and his brilliant design concepts. I love the outline of the rolled up bridge overlaid on the rolled out bridge. Will go and look it up now... H

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  3. Dianne Robinson31 August 2022 at 18:04

    I've just looked it up - it's quite a mechanism. You've captured it really well with the stitching outlining it's rolling up. And I like the way you did the background of the office buildings.

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  4. Rosemary31 August 2022 at 23:30

    Gosh Phil I had never heard of this bridge . What an amazing bridge construction and your piece captures the mechanism so clearly . Very interesting. No wonder you are happy with your piece

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  5. Amanda1 September 2022 at 00:57

    Great to learn about this bridge and then to see you translate it so well onto fabric. It brought to mind the animated movie Spirited Away - I must watch it again and see what in there resonates with your wonderful piece!

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  6. Jinnie11 September 2022 at 19:14

    I too have never heard of this bridge. I love your interpretaion of it and the way you have shown it both open and rolled up.

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