Demolition of the Pont des Trous, Belgium

This wasn't a story I was aware of until I saw something recently posted on the Bridgehunter's Chronicles blog.

The Pont des Trous (translation: "bridge of holes") in Tournai was a medieval structure spanning the Scheldt River. Three arches, built at the end of the thirteenth century, connected two defensive towers, part of a historic city wall system. According to one report, this was one of only three remaining 13th century defensive bridges in the world (although ... read on!)

Here is this attractive heritage bridge pictured last year:

Image courtesy of Trougnouf via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 license

And here is how it looked on 14th August this year, following major demolition work:

Image courtesy of Jpcuvelier via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 license

If you spot that the towers look different in the two photos, that's because the photos are taken from different sides of the bridge: the curved tower faces were apparently on the outside of the city walls, to better deflect cannon-shot.

After much debate, the arches have been demolished in the name of progress. Apparently, the 1500-tonne vessels that could pass through the central arch are not enough, so the bridge had to make way to allow 2000-tonne vessels to pass.

Demolition of such a historic structure seems quite suprising, even with the stated justification of improving the local economy. There have been a petition against the proposal, and a Facebook protest group.

However, the structure that has been destroyed was not actually the original 14th century bridge, shown here in an old illustration with three equal gothic arches and a roof covering.

Image undated via Wikimedia Commons, public domain

The roof was removed and some other alterations were made in the 19th century.

The bridge was then destroyed by the British during the second world war. This image showing the damage to the medieval bridge dates from circa 1940:

Source unknown via delirurbain.org

When the bridge was rebuilt, it was essentially entirely erased and then reconstructed to some extent in reinforced concrete with a masonry facing - the bridge that has now been destroyed was essentially a fake, although many visitors would never realise this. The central arch was raised and widened enlarged at this time.

There have been various plans put forward to replace the demolished bridge with a modern structure.

Here is a proposal from Bureau Greisch and ANMA architects, a stainless steel mesh, a ghost of the bridge's former self in far too many senses:

A stone version of the same idea was preferred in a consultation with residents (although the consultation didn't include the possibility of retaining the existing structure).

This alternative proposal is from architect Olivier Bastin, a more skeletal reconstruction. It feels more like a parody of a bridge, than any meaningful tribute to what was there before.

Michel Wiseur's alternative is the best of this sorry bunch, displaying clearly the site's history rather than replacing it with something of entirely different dimensions or materials:

I gather that all these proposals have now fallen by the wayside, and the local authorities have stated they intend to rebuild the bridge (on another site?), stone-by-stone. If you watch the video of its demolition, you may wonder quite how that will actually happen.

My first thought on hearing about this whole story was that it was really quite appalling. Heritage can either be preserved or lost, and it can only be lost once. Once lost no Disney-like confection can replace it. However, here is a bridge that can apparently be lost twice, and the bridge that has been destroyed is not what it may have seemed.

So is it really such a loss after all? It is perhaps more significant as an element of civic identity than as a piece of real heritage. As with much nostalgia, the sense of loss is for a representation of the past that was never real or authentic anyway.

Knokke Footbridge

Someone recently emailed me a link to an Archdaily feature on the Knokke Footbridge, in Flanders in Belgium. Although it was completed a couple of years ago, I wasn't previously aware of it, and it's such a gorgeous design I just had to include some pictures here.


It was designed by Ney & Partners, whose website is well worth a look, as this is far from the only marvellous bridge they've designed.

It's a three-span hybrid cable-stay/suspension bridge (28m, 46m, 28m), albeit one which is both technologically audacious and aesthetically exceptional. It carries cyclists and pedestrians via a curved route above the Queen Elizabeth Avenue, a dual carriageway on the way into Knokke.

The concept sketches show the basic idea: the bending moment diagram for a three-span structure is used as the basis of the overall structural shape (see left, click on any image for the full-size version: all sketches are by Ney and photographs by Daylight). This gives the standard form for a suspension bridge or a haunched girder bridge, with a deeper section above the supports. They then proceeded via a series of design optimisation steps to remove as much material from the "web" as possible, resulting in the elegantly curved cut-outs of the final bridge.

The photo on the right shows the result, and you could interpret it as either a cable-stay bridge or a suspension bridge according to preference. The webs are formed from 12mm steel plate, as is the main deck girder, allowing the "cables" and deck to be formed from a continuous joint-free material.

In profile, it reminds me very much of the Tavanasa Bridge (see left, photographer unknown), where Robert Maillart started with a closed-spandrel arch design, creating cut-outs where he knew the concrete to be providing little real benefit. The Knokke bridge is just the Tavanasa structure turned upside down, with concrete replaced by steel.

In cross-section, the Knokke designer's sketches (see right) show the bridge webs continued and curved below the deck, acting as a cradling suspension system transversely (i.e. the steel plate is all in tension, never subject to significant bending).

As can be seen from the photographs (see left), that's exactly what they achieved. The deck part is partially infilled with concrete to form a box girder which is stiff in bending and torsion, and also stiff enough axially and horizontally to sustain the effects of deck curvature (arching in plan).

Essentially, it's a bit like a membrane structure, where everything is form-found to carry only tension forces, except for the stiff box girder deck (see image on the right for a better view of how the deck is put together).

One of the disadvantages of doing this in steel is clearly the cost of bending all the steel to the desired profile. Another is that unlike a fabric structure, the steel doesn't alter its shape in response to varying loads, so in many situations it will be in a far from perfect stress state. The final difficulty is simply that of welding large thin sheets together (see left), but I think the resulting evidence of the bridge's making (weld lines) is a positive thing in what would otherwise be an ultra-smooth bridge.

The deck is hung from two Y-shaped piers (see right), and considerable effort has gone into making these as minimal as possible, just some stiffened steel plate rather than the box sections that would be a more conventional solution. This is presumably possible because of the bridge's curvature, which allows the lateral forces in the deck to be reacted elsewhere. The piers wouldn't satisfy UK requirements for strength against accidental vehicular impact, so let's hope they never get hit!

The whole thing is finished off with some simple chain-link balustrades with LED lighting recessed into the handrail, and a couple of tiny deflectors above the highway (see left), which I presume are there to prevent people urinating too easily on the electric overhead tramway wires.

Overall, it's an absolutely gorgeous design, an exemplary piece of engineering, and one of the finest bridges I've seen this year.

There are dozens more great pictures at the ArchDaily and Ney and Partners websites, so go and take a look!

See also:
Knokke Footbridge at Structurae