| Architect |
Santiago
Calatrava |
| Date Built |
1995 |
| Location |
Carrer de
Justicia |
| Description |
|
Also known as the Pont de
l"Exposicio, the Alameda bridge links the
city centre of Valencia with the
university district by spanning 130 metres
across the dry river bed, now a park, of
the River Turia.  (The image above is from the Wikimedia Commons website and is shown here under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence. It was originally posted on Panarimo by radwoc. Details off the licence can be seen by clicking on the image) Beneath the bridge is the Alameda Metro station. Both structures were designed by Santiago Calatrava, a local Valencian architect.   The bridge and the
station were constructed
simultaneously and when the station
was completed the bridge was winched
into position. Santiago
Calatrava's website explains that, "....
The steel bridge structure employs
an arch inclined at an 70-degree
angle, made up of two basic tubes
of constant yet different
diameter, joined by
regularly-spaced welded webs. To
ensure the stability of the offset
arch, rigid tension arms are
placed at regular intervals of
5.84 meters (19 feet). The vehicle
deck, comprising of four
consecutive cells is designed for
maximum rigidity, while the
pedestrian decks are cantilevered
off to each side. The total length
of the bridge is 163 meters (534.6
feet), with a maximum span of 130
meters (426.4 feet)."
 The subway station
is aligned along the same longitudinal
axis as the bridge. "The
platforms can be reached via
elevators housed in the buttresses
of the bridge and via escalators
and stairs that are accessed
through mechanical doors. When
open, these doors frame the
entrances; when closed, they are
flush with the paving, thus
sealing the station. At night,
light filters up through the glass
inlay to gently illuminate the
bridge. A simple local cladding
made of broken white tiles is used
for the wall surfaces. Below
grade, the side walls are hollow
core to prevent ground water
seepage."
      |
|
|
Alameda
Station & Bridge, Valencia, Spain
 |
