Akkerwinde Bridge by OAK Architects
On Saturday November 29th, the successful transportation and installation of the world’s first heavy traffic road bridge made from Accoya wood took place. The bridge, located in Sneek in the Netherlands, is the first wooden bridge in the world that can support the heaviest load class of 60 tons. An official opening ceremony and celebration is planned for April 15, 2009.
Spanning 105 feet and rising more than 50 feet in the air, the structure will serve as a grand entrance to the city of Sneek. The €3.5 million bridge was commissioned after a 2005 design competition, and is designed by OAK Architects (a collaboration between Achterbosch Architectuur and Onix architects) and constructed by German firm Schaffitzel Holzindustrie.
Visit the website of Achterbosch Architectuur – here.
Visit the website of Onix architects – here.
See more photos of Akkerwinde bridge on Flickr – here and here.
From Titan Wood:
When designing their masterpiece, OAK Architects specified Accoya® wood because of its many benefits, including high strength to weight ratio, enhanced durability and dimensional stability, non-toxicity and aesthetics. The wood used in the bridge’s dramatic design not only makes it look impressive but performs also the important function of bearing the traffic load.
Accoya® wood, which is produced only from source-certified sustainable species, including FSC, was specified after a thorough testing and verification process. Project Manager, Sieds Hoitinga, said, “Several independent European research institutes were contracted to test Accoya® wood’s suitability for this project. After rigorous testing, we found that its dimensional stability and incredible durability put it head and shoulders above other species and showed that it is suitable for laminating in large sections measuring 1080 x 1400 mm. Accoya® wood also has superior UV resistance, is non-toxic and made from sustainably grown timber and these things were also considerations”.
Wood, such as Accoya®, naturally sequesters carbon, helping to combat the effects of global warming. Due to its extended usable-life, Accoya® wood sequesters carbon for much longer than ordinary wood species, helping architects and builders to minimize the carbon footprint of their projects.
Akkerwinde, as the wooden bridge is known, represents a milestone, not only for Titan Wood but also for the international building and civil engineering community as a whole. Finlay Morrison, CEO of Titan Wood, said, “Accoya® wood represents a new era in building technology. We are taking a traditional building material and improving it, which allows it to be used in new and innovative ways. Accoya® wood, a green product through and through, allows builders and architects to think out of the box, while at the same time doing their part for the environment.”
Brom on 03 Feb 2009 at 3:26 pm #
Wow… That was kind of weird.
Brent Sunderson (from Sweden) on 04 Feb 2009 at 5:49 am #
Wow, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such big wood beams before. It’s stunning. Beautiful. Such a great warm, earthy, organic contrast to the hard pavement of the freeway. It seems to say “Welcome to Sneek! We are warm and friendly!”
I applaud the city of Sneek for choosing to build something interesting, instead of just some boring forgettable bridge.
The Netherlands already has some great bridges (big and small), I will try to visit Sneek next time I go to the Netherlands, so I can see this bridge in person.
Eduardo Baroni on 05 Feb 2009 at 4:08 am #
Beautiful waste of wood.
R. G. McKenzie on 02 Jun 2009 at 1:03 pm #
Could it be that with “heaviest load class of 60 tons” you mean “military load class 60″ (“a class 60 bridge”)?
1) Military load classes are based on weight, but include other factors such as whether the vehicles are tracked or wheeled and how many axles the vehicle has. The class is a number without dimension. A bridge, viaduct, culvert, etc. has four classes: for wheeled or tracked vehicles and for one- or two-way traffic.
2) The momentary maximum military load class seems to be 120, not 60 <http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milit%C3%A4rische_Lastenklasse. (Tanks, as well as combat engineers, gain weight with age.)
3) In any case, it”s a nice-looking bridge. The only thing missing is a flyby of a “wooden wonder” (aka “timber terror”)