There are currently 37 bridges spanning the River Seine in Paris, but there must surely be room for one more; one that's rather different than the rest, that is perhaps inflatable and comprising three huge trampolines. Such a bridge may not be practical, but it would be fun, and no doubt become something of a tourist attraction in a city already blessed with an abundance of tourist attractions. Such a bridge exists, at least in the form of a concept design by Paris-based architectural studio Atelier Zündel Cristea.
Created for a client and based on the brief for a competition titled "A Bridge in Paris," the trampoline bridge (as it should clearly be called) consists of three giant inflatable PVC buoys connected by cord to span the Seine close to the existing Bir-Hakeim bridge.
The buoys would each be 30 meters (98 ft) in diameter and filled with 3,700 cubic meters (130,664 cubic ft) of air. Inside each ring would be a trampoline mesh designed to allow brave souls to bounce their way from one side of the river to the other. The idea being that Paris already has enough bridges to accommodate the flow of traffic, and instead needs something "more playful" to create "contemporary urban enjoyment."
I highly doubt this inflatable bridge in its current form would make it past the European Union health and safety laws, and rightly so. Not only would the chances of pedestrians traversing the bridge colliding be extremely high, misjudging a bounce between the three separate trampolines that together form the bridge would result in a rather watery end to the commute to work for any unfortunate Parisian.
However, such cynicism may be missing the point just a little, and it's certainly nice to see as fun and frivolous a design as this being put forward to counter what are likely to be the rather traditional plans submitted by other firms.
Source: Atelier Zündel Cristea via Design Boom
