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PLANNING PERMISSION FOR COMMEMORATIVE BRIDGE
A Commemorative Bridge over the River Liffey was granted planning permission by Dublin City Council this month .
Designed by ritchie * studio ( formerly Ian Ritchie Architects ) in London , and sbp ( engineers ), the proposed combined pedestrian and cycle bridge will provide a new ceremonial entrance to the Irish National War Memorial Gardens ( INWMGs ) in Islandbridge , Dublin .
The bridge is 58 metres long and conceived as the most slender and shallow structural arch form technically possible . The result is a slender blade of stainless steel that leaps from the landscape without the need for intermediate columns , masts or suspension structures .
The overall design creates a light presence in the landscape and has a structural depth of only 35cm at the centre of the span . Its proportions offer a combination of slenderness and elegance . The bridge follows the historic alignment of Sir Edwin Lutyens ’ original sketch to connect the War Memorial Gardens to Phoenix Park .
A proposal that was not realised in his original 1930s design of the gardens . The bridge evokes the memories of fallen soldiers from the 1st World War with stainlesssteel bridge deck plates incorporating military boot stud imprints leading towards the Memorial Gardens , but not returning .
The bridge structure is constructed of ‘ clad steel ’. This material mix combines structural mild steel plate with a corrosion resistant stainless steel outer layer hot roll bonded onto the mild steel . The stainless steel finish creates a soft , light-reflecting surface .
The balustrades of stainless steel ‘ reeds ’ evoke the grassed estuaries crushed by military vehicles and through which soldiers marched . The ‘ reeds ’ are visually fluid and tactile with reflective and transparent qualities to provide a subtly changing visual experience while crossing the bridge .
The reeds slowly disappear into the landscape to meet the inclined banks on the north side planted with wildflowers , and together with planted trees , encourage biodiversity . To the south , mown grass blends into the rest of the Memorial Gardens .
The Commemorative Bridge design won an international competition organised by the RIAI in 2019 on behalf of the Office of Public Building and Works ( OPW ).
Extracts from Dead Ground – a poem by Ian Ritchie The horizon , dark , dead ground . Sea of dead grass before a dawn-lit tilted arc , roots of nature and men all around . … A distant bridge , gone dead ground , gone the marsh gas fresh air , I hear a dog bark , sound of living souls . I am homebound .
Architect - Ian Ritchie , Director , ritchie * studio .
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