Architecture firm bureau faceB has won a competition to build a new bridge over Paris’s Seine River.

One half will be traditional. But the other half will be an intentionally wobbling bundle of wires.

It will also have concrete installations suitable for sitting on the water and eating lunch.

Its location will be right in the heart of Paris tourism, surely making it an attraction unto itself.




In Paris, An Intentionally Unstable Bridge Spans The Seine

Most bridges are designed to not wobble. A recently green-lit project in Paris will flout this convention.

Any time I’m on a bridge, a tiny voice reminds me: "This could fall down." It’s mostly ridiculous, of course. Bridges are developed with incredible care and monitored with extreme scrutiny, but every time you cross, you are putting a certain amount of faith into infrastructure.

Architecture studio bureau faceB is developing a new bridge on Paris’s Seine River that’s inspired by that tiny, cautious voice in our heads. Dubbed Water At-traction, the pedestrian bridge is constructed from steel cables, strung between banks by springs. It contains two ways to cross. One is a relatively typical bridge with a concrete mesh bottom. But by its side is a more "perilous" option, a series of extremely narrow, wobbly paths reminiscent of Himalayan footbridges.

"The objective was to get closer to the water, to regain contact with the river," bureau faceB’s Camille Mourier tells me. "Going over the water is an event in itself. We wanted the pedestrian to find this feeling. It’s like a perilous flirt with the Seine."

Of course, the instability is a bit of an illusion. The bridge is stretched in three directions, meaning it’s perfectly well grounded. And a series of steel balustrades should contain any mishaps from falling into the water. At the same time, the project is a fun reimagining of the infrastructure we take for granted. This bridge doesn’t just tacitly ensure your safety; it challenges pedestrians to acknowledge the leap of faith they take every day, standing upon structures built by people who, however brilliant they may be, are perfectly capable of making mistakes.

See more here.

[Hat tip: Dezeen]

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  • jszym

    What about people who fall (which seems to be likely given the fact that the paths are narrow) and hit their heads on the rest of the (presumably concussion friendly) structure.

  • Beckybodnar

    I think it's fantastic, and I hope it's built by the next time I'm in Paris--I can't wait to try it! It's not just a bridge. It's a work of art.

  • Jerry

    This is what happens when you let architects design structures. There's no way this will ever be built. By the way, I'm an architect.

  • Stan Edwards

    Let us hope that it is only intentionally unstable and not unintentionally in Seine!

  • Lionel Slusny

    nice;but what about min height for all the boats passing underneath ??!!

  • Candace Lyons

    Is this a serious question? Do you honestly think that they did not consider this? The  bridge is not low in all areas. They made sure that part of the bridge was made to suite the boats traveling underneath the bridge. Otherwise, they would not have been permitted to build the bridge.