Bridge absence of light, Nesselande Rotterdam

Design: 2005

Completion: 2006

Construction engineering: Gemeentewerken Rotterdam

Client: OBR Rotterdam

If you are in a car by daylight and you race across a bridge, you’ll experience the bridge as being just a point because your environment changes just for a brief moment. Terra firma makes way for moving water. This transition, together with ’the brightness of water,’ transforms the experience and creates space for the bridge. This fundamental principle in the design means that lampposts or lights do not light the bridge. The bridge transforms because it is lit ‘of itself.’ Patches of light arising from differences in configuration indicate the track on which the car moves forward. Because of this ‘artificial lighting,’ the driver will experience the bridge not only by way of its connecting function but it will also provide a spatial experience.
The bridge is constructed from concrete in combination with glass ‘dots.’ These units, specially developed by a supplier of glass and light, are made entirely of glass through which daylight travels and makes the space lighter under the bridge during daytime. These glass units are fitted with 2,500 LED modules and provide sufficient and even light for the roadway.