Webb Bridge in Melbourne

Webb Bridge is an interesting, unique-looking bridge which is part of a Melbourne public art project. Webb Bridge (or Web Bridge) was actually designed to represent a Koori eel trap.

A competition-winning design for a new pedestrian/cycle bridge over the Yarra river, as part of a public art project, in Melbourne’s Docklands area. The brief called for the re-use of the remaining sections of the Webb Dock Rail Bridge, in order to link the Docklands on the north side to the new residential developments on the south side.
The bridge comprises two distinct sections: the existing structure (145m long) and the new curved, ramped connecting link (80m long) employed to take up level changes, creating a point of arrival at the south bank. Both are joined seamlessly, with an emphasis on volume and containment in the new curved and sinuous form.

There are two main components to the bridge: the pigmented concrete screed deck on steel box beams and the containing baskets/ribs of circular/ovoid hoops which encircle the bridge deck. The hoops vary in width from 5 – 8.7m and in height from 4 – 8.9m high. They are constructed from steel sections 15 x 150mm, occurring at varying centres along the bridge. These are interconnected by a series of steel straps 150mm wide.

The steelwork was made in prefabricated sections and then assembled on a barge that was floated in at high tide. At the northern bank it starts as a series of plain hoops that grow further apart towards the middle of the span. As you approach the south bank, the hoops regain their intensity and evolve into a filigree cocoon. This gradation of pattern was intended to create a life, a moment in time.