In April of last year, a competition for the design of the Echelsbach Bridge, crossing national road B23, over the Ammer gorge was announced. Together with the architects of Lang Hugger und Rampp, SSF Ingenieure participated at the competition.
Task
In addition to being a transport structure, the current Echelsbach Bridge is a popular and frequently visited sight and an important landmark in the Ammer Valley. The structural state of the bridge requires a new construction, for which nature and monuments protection stipulates the conservation of the historic arch.
Integration into the landscape
Optically, the bridge finishes with the road surface and no additional structures disturb the flow of the surrounding landscape. The form thus reflects the particular situation of a profound cut in a seemingly flat landscape by doing without a long-range effect or a highlight visible from the distance.
Structural type
The new load-bearing system is an arch structure comparable to the existing arch. The new bridge is evidently designed with the same attitudes and intentions as in 1929 when the old bridge was erected. With today’s methods, the arch can be built flatter, arising from the motivation to keep the existing arch clearly visible.
Shape
The new arch is designed as flat as possible to make the old arch well visible. The new load-bearing arches are inclined to the inside at the centre of the bridge so that the foundations of the existing arch and its elegant shape appear freely. The new arches expose the existing bearings, absorb the new bridge’s load in a trusting and stable manner without competing with new forms against the old arch.
Existing arch
The conserved arch is cleared of the old, vertical supports, clearly distinguishing between the load-bearing parts of the new bridge and the conserved parts.
