© Kristoffer Paulsen
- Architects: John Wardle Architects, NADAAA, Oculus
- Location: Melbourne VIC, Australia
- Jwa Team: John Wardle, Stefan Mee, Mathew van Kooy, Adam Kolsrud, James Loder, Paul Bickell, Jeff Arnold, Stuart Mann, Ruairi Molloy, Sharon Crabb
- Nadaaa Team: Nader Tehrani, Arthur Chang, Parke MacDowell, Nick Safley, Thomas Tait
- Area: 700.0 m2
- Project Year: 2016
- Photographs: Nils Koenning, Kristoffer Paulsen, Peter Bennetts
- Construction Team: Fitzgerald Constructions Australia and Harris HMC
- Structural Engineer: GHD
- Building Services Engineer: GHD
- Civil Engineer: GHD
- Geotechnical Engineer: GHD and Golders
- Sustainability (Esd) Consultancy: Cundall
- Landscape Architect: Oculus
- Building Surveyor: McKenzie Group
- Accessibility Consultant: McKenzie Group
- Acoustic Consultant: GHD
- Lighting Designer: Electrolight
- Heritage Architects: RBA
- Signage And Wayfinding: Buro North
- Traffic And Pedestrian Modelling: GHD
© Peter Bennetts
Text description provided by the architects. The new Tanderrum Pedestrian Bridge linking Birrarung Marr with the Melbourne Park sports precinct creates a new arrival address for Melbourne Park. The bridge serves as a major pedestrian entrance point during the Australian Open. A ramping pathway through Birrarung Marr leads to the bridge proper and its alignment respects the landscape and topography of the park.
© Peter Bennetts
Site Plan
© Kristoffer Paulsen
In our design, we make an important connection between the historic landscape of Speakers Corner and the outside tennis courts of Melbourne Park across Batman Avenue. Both of these existing spaces are steeped inegalitarian and democratic values – one with a history of regular citizens speaking freely on any subject; the other where a player of any ranking can pick up a tennis racquet in one of the sport’s great precincts.
© Kristoffer Paulsen
The bridge design is slender, a flat steel girder structure that tapers at its edges to achieve the required span across Batman Avenue. The bridge undercroft follows the slope of the existing landscape thus eliminating low forming spaces and settles the bridge into the landscape. The lightweight filigree character of the steel structure provides the framework for a journey which branches into a connective path with views toward the Yarra River, Birrarung Marr, and the City.
© Peter Bennetts
Elevations
© Peter Bennetts
