A design statement: Penn’s ‘Weave Bridge’ taking shape
Cecil Balmond's "Weave Bridge" will carry pedestrians across the Amtrak rail tracks just east of Franklin Field.
A key element of the University’s Penn Connects development plan has begun to take shape on the far eastern edge of campus.
Construction has begun on the Weave Bridge, a $2 million, 190-foot span that will connect the University’s athletic fields near Hollenback Center to the planned 14-acre Penn Park, which is scheduled for completion as early as late 2010.
“This bridge is one of a series of connections that Penn Park will eventually have,” says Anne Papageorge, vice president for the Division of Facilities and Real Estate Services. “This is the first connection in Penn Connects that will link the open space north of South Street with the open space south of South Street.”
The Weave Bridge will be functional. But as its name suggests, it’s no ordinary bridge.
Designed by British engineer Cecil Balmond, the Weave Bridge will present to its users a true experience, carrying them over the railroad tracks east of Franklin Field with dramatic flair. To be built out of steel, wood and polymers, the bridge will literally take on the form of a “weaved” bridge, with the stitching appearing to unravel as pedestrians reach each end. As Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron recently wrote, crossing the Weave Bridge “promises to be a full-blown adventure trek, with looping turns and whooshing slaloms.”
“When we first started we had a fairly simple, pedestrian design,” says Mark Kocent, principal planner with the University’s Office of the Architect. “But everyone involved, from the design review committee up to the President, felt this [bridge] was an opportunity to make a statement about the quality of design we at Penn are aspiring to.”
Adds Papageorge: “It’s a design indicative of the commitment Penn has to design quality.”
The construction contract for the project was awarded earlier this year, and currently workers are building the piers that will support the span itself, which is being fashioned by a western Pennsylvania manufacturer. The span is set to arrive here in November, and workers will then begin setting it into place. It should open just in time for the closure of the South Street Bridge, and therefore will provide a key crossing option for pedestrians accustomed to using the South Street span.
It’s safe to say their experience on the Weave Bridge will be a tad more interesting, though, and that’s because of Balmond’s unique design. His work has been recognized as some of the best of its kind, and a couple of his most recent designs, including the Pedro and Ines footbridge in Coimbra, Portugal and the Hedge installation for Artists Space in New York, have drawn rave reviews.
He currently serves as Paul Philippe Cret Practice Professor of Architecture at Penn and remains deputy for the international engineering firm Arup.
“We added Cecil Balmond to the team to raise the level of the quality of the project,” Kocent says. “And now this is a very unique project for us.”
Originally published Oct. 16, 2008
