Canal Bridge
The Canal Bridge is part of the Madrid Río project and is, in a sense, an ‘anomaly’. The undergrounding, on both sides of the Manzanares River, of the M30 motorway was executed with two thick, deep screens on either side of the two tunnels. These screens cut off the possibility of below-grade connection of urban facilities - for more than five kilometres - between two large areas of the city. The Madrid Rio park incorporated these above-ground connections and to this end all the bridges built house important networks of urban services. The Canal Bridge houses a 150 cm diameter drinking water pipeline, whose position - in plan and section - was predetermined.
This bridge, therefore, is the structure required by this large pipe to cross the river, but it also allows pedestrians and cyclists to cross. It is built with two 180 cm high steel girders that hide the pipeline and, on top of them, with a light steel structure, the bridge deck is mounted. The project transforms an ‘exceptional anomaly’ into an object that integrates with ‘natural normality’ over the river.
Burgos & Garrido Arquitectos [Francisco Burgos; Ginés Garrido]
Porras LaCasta Arquitectos [Fernando Porras-Isla; Arantxa La Casta]
Rubio Álvarez-Sala Arquitectos [Carlos Rubio; Enrique Álvarez-Sala]
& West 8 [Adriaan Geuze; Edzo Bindels]
