French connection - Solferino footbridge in Paris - Brief Article

Architectural Review, The, April, 2001 by Penny McGuire

This new Parisian footbridge is a sleek, graceful solution to the practicalities of connecting various quayside levels.

In Paris, the new doubledecker Solferino footbridge, by Marc Mimram, spans the River Seine between the Pont Royal and Pont de la Concorde, near the Musee d'Orsay on the Left Bank, and Rue Castiglione on the Right. The latest addition to the schemes being planned to upgrade Paris' infrastructure, the bridge is a worthy modern companion for the historic ones -- Pont Alexandre Ill. Pont-Neuf and Pont des Arts - that have famously contributed to the city's romance. The structure replaces the bridge of 1859 and its 1961 successor.

The new bridge had to span the river with a single arch, without intermediate columns interrupting the water's flow or passage of river traffic. Its two levels link lower and upper quays on each side.

The span had by definition to be asymmetrical since it had to bridge the busy quayside expressway on the Left Bank, which in turn makes the link with the lower quay dangerous for pedestrians; and on the Right Bank, the fast route renders the link with the upper quay difficult and blocks off access to the Tuileries. As a footbridge, rather than one carrying traffic, it is not subject to the same engineering constraints and so could explore the idea of structural lightness and transparency, and the relationship of the structure to water, sky and place.

Mimram's filigreed bridge consists of a shallow deck which makes the long span between the upper embankments and a lower arch. Slung underneath and tied to the upper deck at its highest point, the arch links the lower quays and allows pedestrians to move from one level to another. As a result, you can make an elevated journey along the top deck, or descend to the arch, and take an introverted walk through a cage of steel girders, barely suspended above the water and with views contained and framed by the structural elements. The two experiences of crossing the river are entirely different. On the Right Bank, the lower level leads to a subway to the Tuileries, so that the journey from the gardens to the Musee d'Orsay is at last robbed of its more death-defying moments.

The bridge is proving something of a triumph, unlike the Pont Charles de Gaulle by Arretche and Karasinski, which links the Gare de Lyon with the Gare d'Austerlitz and seems to be popularly unloved. Solferino's spare geometrical forms, lightly slung across the water, has added a new and enjoyable dimension to crossing the city on foot. P.M.