Projects -

Bridges and locks, IJburg

For the new IJburg residential development MVSA has designed seven bridges and two locks.  In the first development phase IJburg consists of six islands. Amsterdam’s planning department came up with a concept whereby the various islands would be linked by ‘families’ of bridges designed by different architects.
Meyer en Van Schooten Architecten were commissioned in 2001 to design the bridges over the Groene Tunnel and the two locks in this waterway, which separates Haveneiland from Grote Rieteiland. The locks are necessary during abnormally high water levels in the IJmeer and to manage water quality in IJburg.

Lock 124, at the east end of the Groen Tunnel, is the first lock world wide to be fitted with concrete lock gates.

The bridges over the Groene Tunnel consist of a curved concrete span with a convex, shell-shaped underside. Attached to either side of this span are steel brackets topped with the steel gratings of the pedestrian zones. These gratings are partly filled with granulated tyres. The bridge balustrade is formed by the bent ends of the steel brackets which are connected by a stainless steel railing and steel tension wires.
The bridges resemble one another like the members of a family, but they are all slightly different, depending on the particular context.