FOR GREATER ACCESS
27 Mar 2017
The completion of a bicycle and pedestrian bridge in The Netherlands has cemented the transformation of the region through a seamless design that provides fluid access for users in the middle of the city.
The station district in Utrecht, The Netherlands, has undergone a real metamorphosis in the last couple of years. Between all the new buildings, conversions and renovations, the Moreelsebrug has been more fully realised.
The Moreelse Bridge is a bicycle and pedestrian bridge in Utrecht that spans the railroad tracks to the south of Utrecht central railway station. It is about 275m long and connects the Dichterswijk (Poet District) with Mariaplaats in the Binnenstad district.
Completed in 2016, the Moreelsebrug area was designed by architects Cepezed. Its design is entirely focused on presence, efficiency and functionality. The bridge is characterised by a layout in a single clear, open gesture with a high degree of recognisability and a natural presence.
The concept consists of an elongated, raised esplanade with a high level of user appeal and ambience, achieved through aspects of form, materialisation and detailing, and the integration of an avenue of trees into the design. As a result, the structure functions more as a high-quality continuation of the urban space than just as an infrastructural object.
The bridge is simple, slender and transparent and consists of two super-sized trough girders with a middle section in between. Part of its straightforwardness is that the bridge does not span more than 300m in one go, but is supported at every train platform by a pylon, resulting in an unaffected stability.
The various sight lines and orientations of the structure arise from and fit in with the given urban design situation, and, as a result, the bridge is embedded into the fabric of the city in a real and natural way.
The trees on the bridge form a raised continuation of the avenue of trees already present at ground level on the connecting routes to and from the city centre. In this way, the bridge establishes a uniformity and continuity that contributes to the naturalness of its use.
At night, the bridge is modestly lit, adding to its recognisability, aesthetics and functional logic.
