Futura Bridge

Concept

This new concept embraces modern construction techniques and material innovations already common place in automotive, marine and aero-space design to create beautifully sculpted & structurally efficient freeform structures.

Our concept utilizes the key properties of Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP), high strength and low-weight, in hand with well-established off-site manufacturing processes and techniques, using contemporary design tools to optimize the efficiency of the design and present a modern alternative to steel or concrete.

Additionally, FRP is low maintenance, electrically non-conductive, and provides Class 1 fire resistance. It has less embodied energy, uses less water and causes less air pollution than concrete and steel manufacturing processes and the glass fibre reinforcement can be recycled for re-use.

Manufacturing

We propose to produce the bridge, stair and lift tower elements as a large scale as a kit of parts. These will be fabricated efficently in a controlled factory environment ensuring high accuracy, quality and low waste.

The manufacturing process involves resin bonding & laminating layers of glass fibre mesh into large scale pre-formed moulds. This process eliminates stress concentrations and visual discontinuities and provides the opportunity to create elegant & economic freeform structural elements that place the material where it is needed.

The moulds themselves typically become cost neutral after 8-10 uses and repeatable components will offer an economy of scale. Site specific components will also easily be able to be produced by introducing a potential extension zone, in the middle of bridge spans for instance.

Construction

The use of FRP also offers significant benefits for rapid assembly and construction, due to its relatively low weight, transport and substructure costs can be significantly reduced. The use of large scale components with simple discrete bolted connections will also reduce construction programme and costs further still.