Frame and Form

The largest bridge in Norway is currently being built (8th largest in the world); a suspension bridge called Hardanger Bridge. Aside from its enormous size that seems to wane in the immensity of the 2nd longest fjord in Norway (Hardangerfjord), the careful design of all its elements amazed us, including access design, which shows that in the technological frontiers of engineering there is space for technology and structural art.

No doubt the scene is worth the effort of a sensible design that is compatible with the structural efficiency and formal expressiveness. To this has been devoted Forum Arkitekter de la mano de Pal Jorgensen y Robert Lange. The authors named as the bridge designers, as recorded in the information disseminated by the Department of Roads in Norway, although a project of this magnitude involves many other professionals.

The bridge is accessed via two tunnels. The tunnel tranformation to bridge is very sudden, no transition;the road leaves the mountains directly to ride the bridge and re-enter the rock. Therefore a special tunnel entrance has being design, with a high outer section that tapers toward the interior using a convex ceiling.

In our opinion this tunnel opening is a great success for the designers: Soften the step from the shadows and restriction characteristics of a tunnel, to light and open space of the fjord. But above all it creates a synergy between tunnel and bridge that is difficult to express in words.

The design of the pylons is clean to minimize the number of bracing beams between shafts, But, Moreover, Pal Jorgensen and Robert Lange have achieved a great plastic design of the shafts with a tilt slightly toward the road and using curved lines to go gently reducing the width towards the upper end. These pylons resemble those of the nearby DanishGreat Belt Bridge, although in the Hardanger bridge verticality is emphasized because the bridge is narrower (less distance between shafts), and also the cable supporting elements are placed inside the pylon.

The chairs are usually support large metal pieces shaped saddle to guide and support the main cables of the board hanging bridge. To facilitate the inspection and eventual replacement of the cables are usually placed at the coronation of the pylons as an addition, resulting, at such times, as a un-cared design, a foreign element that distorts the overall picture of the bridge. The concealment of this element inside the pylon is, again, a success of the Forum Arkitekter team.

Finally, We point out another peculiarity of this project: At the access tunnels are being built two roundabouts in the interior of the mountain. Although the reasons are unknown to us, apparently is not the first time made in Norway. In any case, surprises the creation of a cave to link the existing roads with the new route to the bridge.

Meta-Information

Website Norwegian Ministry of Roads. It contains much information of the bridge and is in English. The news about the bridge and its works are in Norwegian.

Basic project data: Since administrative data to technical data.

Photos virtual bridge with original size and definition.

Technical details of the bridge: Elevation of the bridge, Board section,elevation and section of the pylons,details of joint and cable anchor, etc… Deserves special attention detail provisional stiffening of the pylon during construction of the board. The slenderness of the pylon has a price.

Construction Photo. The bridge is under construction,although we found few photos of the work. It is expected to finish in 2013. In addition to the above, We also found this picture of the caliper of the pylon.

Videos of the construction work. We found that there are photos but videos.

Video with slides of the bridge.

Official website Hardangerbrua. Unfortunately it is in Norwegian.