3D-printed Concrete Bridge Recognized By UK Magazine

Brief 

A 3D-printed concrete pedestrian bridge has been named Innovation of the Year by British architecture magazine The Architects’ Journal for its efficient design that reduces waste and allows for easy maintenance and demounting. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects in collaboration with public research university ETH Zurich’s Block Research Group, the roughly 50-by-40-foot bridge was printed in 84 hours using a special ink from Holcim.

Insight

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A Swiss-Austrian partnership’s 3D-printed concrete bridge was unanimously selected as the first AJ100 Innovation of the Year winner by a panel of judges from The Architects’ Journal, a British architecture magazine. The jury praised the lightweight design, which avoids waste. Best of all, the bridge can also be taken apart and rebuilt elsewhere.

The 3D-printed concrete bridge was built as Project Striatus for the Venice Architecture Biennale and was on display at the Giardini della Marinaressa until November 2021. ‘Striatus’ in Latin means ‘grooved with grooves’ and refers to the production-related surface texture of concrete 3D printing.

It is a pedestrian bridge that spans an area of 16 by 12 meters in an arched shape. Characteristic of the shape is a bifurcation on both sides, giving the bridge four access points.

To make the slope passable, the accesses are organized with wooden stairs. The bridge is a response to the massive CO2 emissions in concrete construction and was designed according to the principles of “reduce, reuse and recycle.”