The bridge over the Dřetovice stream in Vrapice, near the city of Kladno, is located on a pedestrian trail that leads from the village to the cemetery. It is set in a remarkable natural context that, in a way, compensates for the urbanized public space of the village. The landscape around Vrapice is also geologically interesting with findings such as fossilized shark teeth. The meadow around the bridge was often flooded and its immediate surrounding is characterized by both systematic human interventions and relative wilderness defined by constant changes due to the floods.
The concept of the bridge bears a deeper meaning, that being it’s a magical portal between the world of the living and the dead, or a numinous object from the Space Odyssey. The unique architectural design explores the limits of lightweightness and subtlety of a pedestrian bridge, artistically based on its black appearance and technologically advanced material.
The bridge is made from freeze resistant ultrahigh performance concrete, grade C110/130, and reinforced fiber. Structural solution of the 10m span and 0.4m camber adequately lies in the double curved geometry of the bridge, stabilizing the construction in both main directions and allowing easy bracing of the bridge. With 1.5m width in the cross section and 1.4m³ of material used for building it, the bridge weighs approximately 3.5 tons.
During the verification of the structural design and the concrete casting technology, a prototype was built and subjected to load testing. Pigment was added into the concrete mixture, surface patina etched and the key details hand sanded.
Opposite to the bridge is “The Guardian”, arranged in the landscape to complete the entire spatial composition of the bridge. One of the main compositional themes is also the concept of the bridge as a plinth or a spatial context for the sculpture, made of a material analogous to that of the bridge.