MAAD: 2nd Prize Vila Franca Footbridge 2010

Where? A priori, the place is viewed as a difficult spot to be solved and characterized by pronounced boundaries, by a marked unevenness and by an infra-structure of railways with a great expression. However, this reality is inserted in a wider system: it is a part of the river Tejo and of its estuary that grants him a unique and special meaning. Nevertheless, currently this bound is diminished by the presence of the railways. In this context, the proposal intends to intervene as a hinging element between the population and the river, as a frontier between the consolidated city and the nature. Why? First, we looked for understanding the genesis of the bridge. Therefore, the first bridges shall have appeared by nature itself after the fall of trunks over the rivers. According to this idea, the deck arises then from the prime element: the trunk of the tree that undergoes a longitudinal cut and its inside is excavated. The deck lies on two moments: _the launch_that consists in a small topographical and organically platform with elements of being, two arms that anchor to the slope and marked by a tree, _the outcome_ a belvedere with a revolutionary hyperboloid form. this one takes on an iconographic relationship acting as pouting element in the landscape. How? The chosen solution as well the used materials was concerned on globally decreasing costs. The were also concerned on choosing sustainable material and, as often as possible, on recycled material. the deck is coated by two main materials: cork and wood. The cork composes the skin of the deck, reproducing then the traditional Portuguese cork tree. the wood comes from the reuse of the materials.