“While working on the project, I remembered the fishing boats I saw in my native Iceland as a child. They were always moored literally side to side, it seemed like you could cross the whole harbor on them,”says artist and lighting designer Olafur Eliasson. This is how the idea of a pedestrian drawbridge across the Christianshaun canal was born, consisting of five round "decks" with masts of different heights. To install the masts, 118 metal cables were required, so the similarity of the whole structure to sailing yachts is simply striking. The shape is further emphasized by the reverse slope of the railing, for which Brazilian guariuba wood was used. Controlled LED illumination completes the romantic look.
The speaking name of the new bridge, Sirkelbroen, is actually formed from two words: "circle" and "bridge". The length of the entire structure is about 40 m, weight is 210 tons. Its segments are not lined up in a neat line, but are displaced relative to each other, forming an intricate zigzag. According to the author, such a decision will inevitably force pedestrians and cyclists to slow down a little, look around, and feel the mood of the embankment. In the closed state, the platforms rise 2.25 m above the water, which makes it possible for small boats to pass under them, but one of the central sections can be pulled back (the process takes only 20 seconds and the captains themselves can control it), passing through a 9-meter gap and larger boats and yachts.
Sirkelbroen, which, according to preliminary calculations, can be used by up to 5,000 people a day, is very important for Copenhagen: it became part of a plan to create a pedestrian zone along the city's main waterway and, at the same time, closes the circular walking and cycling route around the harbor. To top it off, the Round Bridge is located just a kilometer from
"Butterfly Bridge" by Dietmar Feichtinger. And if the work of the Austrian is extremely restrained, elegant and verified from an engineering point of view, then Eliasson, first of all, appeals to a person and his emotions. “I want this bridge to become a part of the everyday life of the townspeople, so that meetings and dates can be made on it,” he sums up.
