How do you to do that to see something new when you've been in one place all your life? It's simple, just watch what new things have been created around you.
I live in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic in Central Europe. Today I will write about the footbridge. In my city of millions you will find about 20 bridges over the Vltava, the main river that divides the city. This is one of them. It was opened in July 2023.
Minimalism. This was the mantra that the group of architects who designed the bridge kept repeating to themselves.
The bridge is 300 metres long. In addition to connecting the two banks of the river, it is equipped with an 80-metre long ramp leading to the island over which it also passes.
The height of the bridge body is 185 centimetres. The width of the pier is also 185 centimetres. Does that look easy? It took a lot of work and thought to make it look simple.
The bridge is by no means straight. It is composed of 57 custom-cast parts that fit together precisely. The railings are connected by epoxy and through them are strands of steel cables that strengthen the bridge.
Speaking of guardrails. The bridge is designed for cyclists and pedestrians. According to the regulations, the railing on the bridge must be 130 centimetres high for cyclists. However, if it is 50 centimetres wide, it can only be 110 centimetres high. The architects took the second route.
Have you noticed that there are no lamps on the bridge for night lighting? There are light poles in the railings. Railings.
At one end the railing is finished with the heads of bulls.
At this point the bridge ends just in front of the former municipal abattoir.
On the other bank we see the heads of horses at the end of the railings.
During World War I, horses destined for the army were gathered and trained on the island.
On the other side, the bridge ends on a busy street where a tram passes. There are two traffic signs on this side. There is a rest area and the footbridge crosses the cycle path. I counted nine traffic signs here. On each side of the river there is a different district with its own administration.
Photo of part of the ramp ending at the island.
In the 17th century there used to be a game preserve on the island where hunts were held. Even for rabbits.
The authors of the project apparently did not count on homeless people living under all the ends of the footbridge.
The building is constructed of special high-strength concrete UHPC. The bridge is fully load-bearing. The authors did not try to cover or decorate the structural elements in any way.
All technical solutions are as simple as possible. How to solve the water drainage? There are two-centimetre holes between the single-plane parts of the bridge deck.
And what is this ugly construction? It's temporary. Once the bridge is approved for use, the equipment will be stored elsewhere. This thing makes it possible, in the event of a thousand-year flood, to raise both ends of the bridge by 3.2 metres in eight minutes.
When we know what we're looking for, we find these two joints on the bridge designed to lift parts of the bridge
But there was enough technology already. A certain percentage of the price of each building is obligatorily invested in art. This is the allegory of the Vltava. The sun didn't want more than a silhouette to be seen from the statue.
You must have thought that the white colour of the bridge attracts various street sprayers. The bridge is painted with a special anti-spray paint. But the sidewalk is obviously not painted. I also wanted to leave you my portrait.
It would probably be a shame not to write that the new footbridge offers interesting views of my city.
HolKa, lávka z Holešovic do Karlína, oficiálně se ovšem jmenuje Štvanická lávka.
Praha má těch mostů a lávek vlastně málo. Tady se uvažovalo stavět už na začátku tisíciletí. Ale povodně... Nakonec byla vyhlášena soutěž až v roce 2017. Lávka nakonec stála asi 360 milionů. Stavěla se o rok déle...
Ale kdo by to počítal? Víte snad, kolik stály pyramidy, nebo Chrám sv.Víta, či Opera v Sydney? A jak dlouho se stavěly? Chrám sv.Víta si 600 let. Důležité je, že to jsou pomníky naší doby určené budoucím generacím.
Po téhle lávce se procházel už 
Začnu asi tím, čím bych měl končit. Mně se ta lávka líbí. Takže co o ní napíšu, nebude objektivní. Nebude to přiznaně objektivní. I když se jeden o objektivitu snaží, stejně jsme jen lidé.
Takže minimalismus. Autoři si vytkly za cíl, aby byla lávka co nejtenčí a nenarušila své okolí. Rozměr 185 cm se jim stal mantrou. To je tlouška mostního tělesa i přední čísti pěti pilířů. Jednoduchost vypadá jednoduše. Ale není.
Cenou bylo plnostěnné zábradlí, které obsahuje svazky ocelových lan. Konstrukce by měla být samonosná a při zkouškách most unesl 70 tun zátěže.
Aby bylo zábradlí co nejnižžší, muselo být širší. Autoři využili dřevěné lišty zábradlí k zasazení světelných pásků pro noční osvětlení.
Celé je to natřené antigrafitím nátěrem a postupně se kolem dodělává okolí. Měla by projít generálkou Holešovická tžnice, dříve jatka, ostrov Štvanice. Karlínský nbájezd se zdá být hotov... Ostatně, o každé, z těchto míst bych rád něco napsal. A co se dá odtud nafotit pohledů...
