The Merchant Square must have made a point to have interesting footbridges because a little west of this one is the Rolling Bridge.
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| Jonathan Konopka posted This is definitely a unique one. This is the Merchant Square Footbridge in the Paddington area of central London, England. It is a moveable bridge that resembles the appearance of a Japanese fan when it is opened. It was built in 2014 and carries a pedestrian walkway across the Paddington Basin of the Grand Union Canal. |
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| Bob Dover posted The Rolling Bridge at Paddington Basin in London was such a hit when it was constructed in 2004, that Merchant Square installed a second kinetic sculpture bridge in 2014. This is the Fan Bridge, located just a few hundred feet further inland, at the end of the canal. The opening of Fan Bridge is similarly unique. At first glance, the bridge appears mundane, just a short, aluminum-colored steel-girder deck. However, the deck consists of five separate segments, side-by-side in a longitudinal manner, and each independently hinged at one end. On the opposite side of the hinge are fan-shaped counterweights, used to raise each of the five longitudinal sections. The mechanism is designed so that each of the five sections rises independently, one after another, as in the opening of a fan. |
The bridge is basically five trunnion bridges next to each other.
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The Fan Bridge was revealed in 2014. "The deck of the Fan Bridge is made of five beams. The beams each open in sequence, with the first rising to an angle of 80 degrees; the four rising to lower levels." |
Their description in the above caption as to how it opens appears wrong. All of the blades open at once, but at different speeds. This video is of the modern style that I don't like --- lots of choppy closeup details but with no overview. And they throw in a bunch of shots that is not even of the bridge. But finally, at the end, we get to see what it looks like when it is closed.
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| Screenshot @ 2:03 |
Here is the kind of video I like for a drawbridge.
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| Screenshot @ 0:07 |
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