Bridge Architecture : Architectural Structures
Major crossing projects from around the world.
post updated 9 October 2026
We have 2 pages of Bridge Design selections:
Contemporary Bridge Designs : current structures news
Bridge Architecture : A-Z (this page)
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Major Bridge Architecture
We choose key examples of Bridge Architecture. We cover completed bridges, new crossing designs, architectural exhibitions and architecture competitions across the world. The focus is on contemporary bridges.
Bridge architecture designs images in 2022
14 Dec 2022
Flanders Longest Bicycle and Pedestrian Bridge, Belgium
Design: ZJA
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Modern structural crossings engineers, global building news in 2021
9 Aug 2021
Ruyi Bridge Dayuan Park Chengdu, China
5 May 2021
Midtown Viaduct Manhattan, New York City, USA
Architecture: DXA Studio
image Courtesy architects
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10 March 2017
Orwell Crossings Project Ipswich Competition, England, UK
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30 Aug 2013
Scale Lane Bridge, Hull, eastern England, UK
Design: McDowell+Benedetti
photo © Timothy Soar
An innovative swing bridge over the River Hull has opened to the public, offering pedestrians the unique experience of riding on the bridge as it opens and closes to river traffic, believed to be a World’s first. The black steel bridge has a distinctive robust character and curving form, making it a memorable landmark that is unique to Hull and its industrial and maritime heritage.
21 Jun 2013
Mersey Gateway Bridge, River Mersey, England, UK
Design: FCC Construcción
image from FCC
FCC, the Spanish infrastructure and environmental services group, has been awarded the contract to design, build, finance, maintain and operate the Mersey Gateway Bridge in Liverpool (UK). Worth approximately 600 million pounds, it is FCC’s largest-ever contract in the UK.
1 May 2013
Hassan II Bridge, Rabat, Morocco
Design: Marc Mimran Architecture
photo : Cemal Emden
Linking Rabat and Salé to form an urban hub, the Hassan II Bridge and its associated access works relieve both cities’ historic sites and populations of atmospheric and sound pollution.
2 Apr 2013
Oberhausen Bridge, Ruhr, north west Germany
Design: Schlaich Bergermann and Partner
photo : Roman Mensing
The 406 m long pedestrian bridge across the Rhine-Herne canal is part of the project EMSCHERKUNST 2010. Artist Tobias Rehberger envisioned a colourful ribbon wrapped in a wild, swinging spiral connecting two parks. Initial tests on the technical feasibility soon showed that the spiral, which was supposed to appear as light and vibrant as possible, could not act as support structure for the bridge.
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22 May 2012
Infinity Loop Bridge – Zhuhai Shizimen Bridge Competition, southern China
10 Design + Buro Happold
picture from architects
10 DESIGN and Buro Happold have won the international design competition for the key signature gateway bridge for the new Shizimen Business District in Zhuhai, China. The feature bridge is the gateway entry to south China’s new planned commercial hub and also marks the connection of the Shizimen Canal to the Pearl River Delta.
16 May 2012
Reykjavik Bridge Design, Iceland
Teiknistofan Tröð
1st prize in an open two stage competition.
The bridges are designed in the shape of a triangular pyramid. The deck is held up with steel wires that connect to the top of the pyramid.
A pathway lies between the two bridges and along the coastline with rest stops and information stands along the way.
8 Feb 2012
The Jubilee Bridge London, Chelesea / Battersea, London, UK
One-world design
image from architects
A new connection between Chelsea Harbour and Battersea would be beneficial to the communities, transport links and businesses on both sides of the river. One-world design and Expedition Engineering have progressed designs for the new bridge.
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6 Dec 2011
Lower Hatea Crossing, New Zealand
Knight Architects
image from architects
The bridge comprises a 265 metre long viaduct with a 25m opening section and more than 1.5km of approach roads over geotechnically challenging ground. Initial earth works will begin to pre-load the site of the bridge on both sides of the harbour and construction will continue through to mid 2013.
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10 Aug 2010
Helix Bridge, Singapore
Cox Rayner Architects
photograph : Christopher Frederick Jones
World’s Best Transport Building at World Architecture Festival Awards 2010.
The Helix Bridge is one of the few, if any, bridges in the world to be named after its structure. In addition to its uniqueness of structure and form, it was designed to respond to its particular setting at the opening of the Singapore River to Marina Bay.
2 March 2010
Grand Canal Bridge, Venice, northeastern Italy
Design: Santiago Calatrava
The first bridge to be built across Venice’s Grand Canal in almost 75 years. Designed by architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava, the bridge will take its place up-stream from the famed Rialto Bridge, the first bridge to span the Grand Canal.
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Key Crossing Structures News Archive
Calgary Bridge Design Contest
Calgary Bridge Design Competition
London Garden Bridge across the River Thames, London, England, UK
Design: Thomas Heatherwick Studio
image from designers
The Greater London Authority (GLA) is to investigate the £200m Garden Bridge project. The scrapped proposal was promoted under former London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Infinity Bridge, Stockton-on-Tees, north east England, UK
Design: Expedition Engineering
Kurilpa Bridge, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Design: Cox Rayner + Arup
Designed by the Queensland division of Australia’s Cox Rayner Architects with Arup, the £35.5 million pedestrian and cycle bridge connects Brisbane’s Central Business District with the city’s South Bank and its major cultural precinct. This is the second project the two practices have collaborated on in the last decade following the completion of the Goodwill Bridge in 2000.
Lee Valley Bridge Designs, Hackney, London, UK
Design: Amin Taha Architects
Two bridge designs close to the London Olympics site – both bridges are intended as very economic solutions to long running access problems. The architect was instructed to develop the bridge designs to planning submission level.
Bridge Designs from around the globe, alphabetical:
Gateshead Millennium Bridge, UK
Design: Wilkinson Eyre Architects
This river crossing is a pedestrian and cyclist tilt bridge spanning the River Tyne in England. It spans this major English river between Gateshead’s Quays arts quarter and the Quayside of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Glasgow Bridge, Scotland
Design: Richard Rogers Partnership / Atkins
Golden Gate Bridge, USA
Design: Irving F. Morrow / Gertrude C. Morrow
Karolina Bridge, Czech Republic
Design: Eva Jiricna Architects
Lee Valley Bridge Designs, London, UK
Amin Taha Architects
A new bridge will service the proposed Cricket and Rugby changing facilities and new pitches, relieving the New Community Centre. The proposal economically retains abutments, adds cycle and disabled access through the use of landscaping leaving Currently on site and due for completion within six months.
Lintas Bridge, France
Ian Ritchie Architects
A thin argon lighting strip reinforces the ‘tension’ of the design, and creates at dusk and evening a ‘virtual ceiling’ across the landscaped courtyard. Two asymmetrical masts suspend a simple braced horizontal steel roof plane, which in turn suspends by cables a horizontal steel floor plane.
London Millennium Bridge, England, UK
Foster + Partners
Lower Hatea Bridge, New Zealand
Knight Architects
Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, USA
Santiago Calatrava
Passerelle Valmy, Paris, France
DFA | Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes
Peace Bridge Calgary, Canada
Santiago Calatrava
Puentes Cascara, Spain
Designers: West 8 & MRIO
Reykjavik Bridge, Iceland – Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridges
Design: Teiknistofan Tröð
The bridges are designed in the shape of a triangular pyramid. The deck is held up with steel wires that connect to the top of the pyramid.
A pathway lies between the two bridges and along the coastline with rest stops and information stands along the way.
River Avon Bridge, central England
Design: Ian Ritchie Architects
River Soar Bridge Competition, Leicester, central England, UK
Design: Explorations Architecture / Buro Happold
River Soar Bridge Competition
Explorations Architecture with Buro Happold has been announced as winners of the competition to design a new foot and cycle bridge crossing the River Soar in Leicester. The project vision sought to stimulate the regeneration of the Abbey Meadows area of the city and to connect the proposed Leicester Science Park and the adjacent National Space Centre, with the residential development to be carried out at Wolsey Island on the opposite bank of the River Soar.
Rolling Bridge, Paddington Basin, west London, south east England, UK
Design: Heatherwick Studio
Rolling Bridge
The structure opens using a series of hydraulic rams set into the timber platform of the bridge. As it curls, each of its eight segments simultaneously lifts, causing it to roll until the two ends touch and form a circle.
Samuel Beckett Bridge, central Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Design: Santiago Calatrava
Samuel Beckett Bridge
San Diego Coronado Bridge, California, USA – Lighting Contest Winners
San Diego Coronado Bridge
Simone de Beauvoir Footbridge, Paris
Design: Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes
The pedestrian bridge with a length of 304 meters links the new districts of Paris- Bercy and Tolbiac – and at the same time the new national french library with the Park Tolbiac. Flying above the busy freeways which track the Seine, the footbridge touches down on the quayside promenades and links the public plaza of the National Library with the new Bercy Park beyond the river, thus ensuring the centre-stage role of the Seine which it plays in the heart of Paris.
Singapore Bridge, Singapore
Design: IJP Corporation
Skywalk Rennweg, Vienna, Austria
Design: SOLID architecture
Sixth Crossing Dubai Creek, UAE
Design: FXFOWLE
Slussen Bridge Competition, Sweden
Design: various entries including Foster + Partners
Spencer Dock Bridge, Dublin, Ireland
Design: Amanda Levete Architects
Teglværk Bridge, Copenhagen, Denmark, northern Europe
Design: HVIDT ARKITEKTER
picture from architect practice
The Teglværk Bridge serves to connect the two islets of the harbour, Teglværkshavnen, and gather the new urban area in one harmonic unit. The development of the area is a part of the plan towards improved development and utilisation of the harbour.
Tower Bridge, London, England, UK
Design: Horace Jones
The bridge consists of two towers tied together at the upper level by means of two horizontal walkways, designed to withstand the horizontal forces exerted by the suspended sections of the bridge on the landward sides of the towers.
Trinity Bridge, Manchester / Salford, north west England, UK
Design: Santiago Calatrava architect
Tyne Bridge, Newcastle, Tyneside, northeast England, UK
University of Limerick Bridge, Ireland, north western Europe
Design: Wilkinson Eyre Architects
The function of bridges extends beyond mere utility, and they have an inherent significance and symbolism as connectors and conduits, gateways and meeting places, landmarks and icons. This bridge is only a small component of the UOL’s ambitious plans to for expansion to the north of the River Shannon yet assumes a strategic importance that transcends its physical presence.
Western Avenue Footbridge, Acton, west London, southeast England, UK
Design: Grimshaw in association with Hyder Consulting
Designed for Transport for London’s Streets department, the footbridge is one element of a major redevelopment project for this stretch of road which has also seen the replacement of two major road bridges. The bright yellow span replaces a damaged existing footbridge that provided stepped access only.
Woven Bridge, Copenhagen, Denmark, northern Europe
Design: MLRP Architects
The bridge join the two banks of the lake, which are at different heights, with a slender arched structure. The foundations are concealed under the steel structure making the transition between bridge and nature more refined.
Zaragoza Bridge, northeast Spain, southwestern Europe
Design: Zaha Hadid Architects
More new Bridge Designs online soon.
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Bridge Architecture – No Images
Fabian Way Bridge, Port Tennant, Swansea, Wales, UK
2007
Studio Bednarski
Fenghua Bridge, Tianjin, China
2007
Marc Mimram Architects
Newport City Footbridge – over River Usk, Newport, Wales, UK
2006
Grimshaw with Atkins
Piazzale Roma Bridge, Venice, Italy
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Santiago Calatrava Architects
Puente del Alamillo, Sevilla, Spain
1992
Santiago Calatrava Architects
Rector St Pedestrian bridge, Lower Manhattan, New York, USA
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ShoP Architects
Three Bridges, Reggio Emilia, Italy
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Santiago Calatrava Architects
Comments / photos for the Contemporary Bridge Architecture page welcome