Zubizuri

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Zubizuri ( Basque for "white bridge"), is a suspension footbridge across the Nervion River in Bilbao, linking Campo Volantin right bank and Uribitarte left bank of the river.

Contents 1 Description 2 Criticism 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Description

The bridge was designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, who also designed the city's Loiu Airport. The design consists in an inclined arch linking the two platforms and access ramps and stairways in both shores that lifts the curved passageway suspended by iron cables. All the structure is painted in white, as other Calatrava's constructions.

It offers pedestrians a convenient route from hotels to the nearby Bilbao Guggenheim Museum It was opened to the public in 1997.

[edit] Criticism

Since its opening, it has been subjected to praise as a symbol of the new Bilbao and another pull for quality tourism and accusations of impracticality: it is locally infamous for the glass bricks set into its floor, that can get specially slippery in the wet climate of the city. Also the original design connects the bridge on the left bank to the Uribitarte dock and not to the higher street Alameda Mazarredo. Local authorities temporarily installed a further scaffolding footway joining the bridge and Mazarredo street, but removed it under protests from Calatrava.

In 2006, the local authorities authorized Arata Isozaki to erect a new footway from the bridge to the contruction site of the Isozaki Towers. Calatrava answered in 2007 by suing Bilbao for the moral rights to the integrity (a part of the intellectual property under the Spanish copyright law) of his creation, where a metal bar had been cut^[1][2]. The mayor of Bilbao, Iñaki Azkuna, with the support of the rest of the councilors^[3] claimed the rights of the owners (Bilbao) over the architect's rights and reminded of the falls of bridge-crossers and the cost of broken glass tiles (6,000 euros a year according to opposition speaker Antonio Basagoiti^[3]). Jurists and local architects have supported the position of the mayor, holding that the modifications do not affect Calatrava's rights^[4].

Citizens of Bilbao have also criticized the impracticalities of Calatrava-designed airport for Bilbao.

[edit] References

1. ^ Calatrava lleva a los tribunales su guerra con Isozaki por los puentes de Uribitarte, El Correo, 22 February 2007.
2. ^ «Tenían que habernos encargado la prolongación de la pasarela», El Correo, 23 February 2007.
3. ^ ^{a b} Entre losetas y y arquitectos 'estrellas', El Correo, 24 February 2007.
4. ^ Juristas dicen que la propiedad intelectual se limita «al diseño» de las obras arquitectónicas, El Correo, 24 February 2007.

[edit] External links

• Google maps image of the footbridge showing the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum in the upper left corner. The bridge is on the lower right.

Coordinates: 43°15′59.06″N, 2°55′40.50″W