Bridge over the Dřetovice stream, Kladno – Vrapice

The bridge over the Dřetovice stream in Vrapice, near the city of Kladno, is located on a pedestrian trail that leads from the village to the cemetery.
The bridge is made from freeze-resistant ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), grade C110/130, fiber-reinforced. Structural solution of the 10 m span and 0,4 m camber adequately lies in the double-curved geometry of the bridge, stabilizing the construction in both main directions and allowing easy bracing of the bridge. With 1,5 m width in the cross section and 1,4 m³ of material used for building it, the bridge weights approx. 3,5 tons. Pigment was added into the concrete mixture, surface patina etched and the key details hand sanded.
Opposite to the bridge is “The Guardian”, a sculpture from the atelier of prof. Jan Hendrych. The sculpture is based on the original Baroque archetypes (e.g. John of Nepomuk) and placed in the landscape set-up completing the entire spatial composition of the bridge.

What makes this project one-of-a-kind?
The concept of the bridge bears a higher meaning; it is a magical portal between the world of the living and the dead, or a numinous object from the Space Odyssey. The unique architectural design explores the limits of lightweightness and subtlety of a pedestrian bridge, artistically based on the mesmerizing black and extremely technologically advanced material. The bridge itself is accompanied by a sculpture of ‘The Guardian’, a baroque archetype in the context of bridges and landscape.