Nomination Le Comte Prize: ‘Bridges at ArsenaalDelft of great beauty’

The two new bridges in the historic part of the city centre of Delft, near ArsenaalDelft (former Army Museum), have been nominated for the Le Comte Prize. The Delft historical society Delfia Batavorum awards prizes every year for remarkable improvements to the cityscape of Delft. "With these bridges, Delft has gained two exceptional structures of very high esthetic quality," according to the committee. The cepezed bridges have a chance to win a jury and a public award.

‘remarkable slenderness’
"The bridges, especially the long one over the Oude Delft, are structurally daring with their remarkable slenderness," according to the committee. "In a special way, this makes the power play of an arch bridge almost tangible. With their tightly curved, as it were dynamic form, both bridges are of great beauty as a structure in themselves. They combine a distinct 'being of our time' with a clear reference to the old, massive brick arch bridges."

chinook helicopters
In an announcement in the newspaper Delft op Zondag the committee says: "The material used for the bridge decks is also a nod to the past of the former Army Museum. They are made of Thorca, a slender, strong and rigid material that is also used in Chinook helicopters of the air force. According to the committee, with these bridges, Delft has gained two exceptional structures of very high aesthetic quality.

dark colour scheme
"It is gratifying that under the bridge over the Oude Delft the long run of this canal, its beautifully mirrored water surface, and the Armamentarium façade rising out of it, remain clearly visible. This surprising effect is due not only to the slenderness but also to the darker colour scheme, with which the bridge disappears slightly in favour of the alternating dark and lighter water surface.

detached from the quayside
A special feature of the bridges' design is that they are detached from the monumental quays. The construction stands in the canal and is not secured to the quays. A steel walkway serves as a barrier-free transition between the bridge and the quay. This has two advantages. The centuries-old quays will suffer no lasting damage from the permanently installed bridges. And because the bridge does not take up any space on the quay wall, there is a spacious landing area between the bridge and the street. This gives pedestrians the space to cross safely.

part of ArsenalDelft
The bridges are part of the larger ArsenalDelft project. That is how the Armamentarium, which for many years housed the Army Museum, is now called. The monumental buildings have been renovated, converted and given new functions as restaurants (Loetje), hotels (Westcord Hotels) and conference centre (IQ Events from Delft). The short bridge on Lange Geer is in front of the entrance to the hotel, the bridge on Oude Delft leads visitors to a sun-drenched terrace, which is yet to be built as a permanent 'floating' structure. The Delft architectural office cepezed was responsible for the total design, cepezedprojects did the development of this project and cepezedbouwteam was execution coordinator of the bridges that were made by Haasnoot Bruggen.

This is how the bridges were placed.
More information in the news item.