Crossbow bridge, Cittadella (PD) 2007

Project manager: Lucio Bonafede
Junior Architect: Francesca Emma
Site supervision: Lucio Bonafede
Client: Municipality of Cittadella (Padua - Italy)
Date of intervention: 2007-8

Crossbow bridge is the winner of the 4th International Biennal Architectural Prize "Barbara Cappochin" - provincial section. We quote the minutes of the jury meeting:
The extraordinary simplicity of this bridge comes to us with beauty and expressiveness. Its morphology and inclination are its fundamental qualities. The connection between two different levels is made with special elegance, reaching over the water to the ancient architecture of the town walls with great delicacy.

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The project aimed at providing a permanent connection across the city ditch of Cittadella, an ancient walled town near Padua (Italy).

Together with the local government, it was agreed that the structure should be original, in order to be accepted by the local Environmental and Architectural Heritage Service of Eastern Veneto. The design of the footbridge were to blend well with the surrounding context, and structure and architecture had to be closely associated to maintain an historical reference.

Although the main material of the bridge is timber, the structural solutions typical of timber bridges were avoided. The choice fell on this material, which certainly influenced the quality of the work, because it is reminiscent of the typical elements of medieval cities: carved wood, stone and iron as mentioned by an important 13th-century theologian, Guglielmo d'Alvernia (coememtum, et clavi, et caeteraeque ligaturae inter lapides, et ligna).

This is the idea underlying the architecture and structure of the bridge, the construction of which was inspired both by the use of traditional materials upgraded with steel cables, and by the way they were traditionally employed, with vires, et artem et artificium (strength, technical skill and artistic sensibility, as Guglielmo d'Alvernia said).

Although a source of inspiration for the project was medieval war machinery, it was not meant as a trite revisitation of those instruments, but as a reference to the design of parts of war machinery like the arbalest, some of whose components perform a static function similar to that of particular structural elements of a bridge.

The arbalest was therefore virtually disassembled to identify parts which could provide a series of structural base elements. These were then used to design the footbridge.

The project had to take into account the particular orography of the soil (the two banks to connect are at different heights), the fact that the footbridge had to outline the hollow profile of the ditch, and comply with the maximum inclination allowed for disabled people. The result was a particular project that emphasises the ditch by varying the inclination of the beams without greatly enhancing the footbridge.

The footbridge has an asymmetric position with reference to the ditch below - the axis of which is not centred and bends at that point - and the curving line of the walls. This deeply affected the final design of the bridge. The lower asymmetric arch resembles a ballistic trajectory, thus suggesting a dynamic thrust forward of the bridge as opposed to the statics of defensive walls. Once again, the image conveyed is one of transit, which is also the main function of the footbridge.

The eye is deceived into thinking that the finished work is an only apparently temporary structure, which blends well with the defensive walls. They, too, are products of skilful design.

The bridge was made in laminated larch, with two main arches hinged at the base that support six resting beams. This solution enabled us to solve logistic issues associated with the assembly. The footpath is made up of larch planks, and the parapet of stainless steel posts and cables with steel wobblers. The foundations rest on concrete poles.

At both ends, the area leading to the bridge is paved with cobbles and bricks. The design of the bridge shall be completed by fitting two steel heads on the exterior lay-bys (this is not included in the bridge project).

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