Sofiero Footbridge wins Footbridge Award 2020/2022

Dissing+Weitling, Sofiero Footbrigde, in flower garden
September 8, 2022

Sofiero Footbridge just won the medium-span 2020 category at the prestigious Footbridge Award in Madrid.

  • Sofiero Footbridge, designed by Dissing+Weitling together with engineers Schlaich Bergermann Partner, won the medium-span 2020 category in the prestigious Footbridge Award, which was awarded on 7 September 2022 in Madrid.

    Medium-span winner

    The bridge competition receives projects from around the world and the jury pick winners within the three categories short-span, medium-span and long-span pedestrian/cycle bridges, in addition to the Jonathan Speirs Lighting Award.

    Sofiero Footbridge was competing with Lille langebro (Copenhagen, Denmark), Taplow Footbridge (Taplow, Bucks, UK), St Philips Footbridge (Bristol, United Kingdom).

  • Jury's comments

    "The most remarkable feature of the bridge is the transparency of its shapes, which make the crossing an elegant and well-integrated structure. Its ultra-slender design minimises both visual and physical impact on the site. It is a tasteful, low impact solution for a very delicate environment and the introduction of a curve into this structural form takes it a step further.

    Worthy of mention is the extradosed underslung cable, which plays an important role in the structure but is almost hidden within the environment. As the cable is self-anchored, no horizontal forces are transmitted to the foundations, so the works on both sides of the ravine could be reduced accordingly."

    Footbridge Award Documentation

  • Dissing+Weitling, Sofiero Footbridge, view from underneath
  • The pedestrian bridge by Sofiero Castle in Helsingborg is designed with minimal impact on the vegetation. As a light and almost transparent curved steel construction it is elegantly floating above a lush ravine. It is fabricated off-site, assembled on location and lifted into place by mobile cranes.

    The design

    The bridge has taken its S-form from the winding pathways making the crossing more than just taking you from A to B.

    The aim was to design a bridge with a single span and hereby avoiding supports in the ravine. The structural system of the proposed footbridge consists of a simply-supported beam conjugated to a suspension cable underneath it to overcome a 57-metres long span. The main girder is composed by a straight steel box with a curved cantilevered deck connected to its top, stiffened by equally-spaced intermediate steel sheets, whereas the suspension system consists of a set of intermediate struts, connecting the main girder to a catenary cable, fixed at the ends.

  • Dissing+Weitling, Sofiero Bridge, pedestrians on bridge

    Despite the unstable ground and the beautiful overgrown plantation, which has meant special technical considerations for design and construction work, we have created a bridge with the least possible intervention in the surroundings.

  • Collaborators

    Engineers Schlaich Bergermann Partner, landscape architect Becht and constructor Bladt Industries.

  • Every three years the Footbridge Awards celebrate the engineering innovation, skills and designs "behind the most inspiring footbridge projects around the world, not to mention the talented teams behind them", but due to Covid-19 the Footbridge Awards and Conference were postponed a number of times.