Architect(s): Denton Corker Marshall
Address: Capital City Trail, Docklands VIC 3008, MELBOURNE, Australia
Latitude/Longitude: -37.823327,144.947306
Photographs: Wojtek Gurak
The Webb Bridge in Melbourne by Denton, Corker & Marshall (DCM) pedestrian/cycle bridge over the Yarra River as part of a public art project in Melbourne’s Docklands area. In collaboration with artist Robert Owen.
The design received first prize in a limited design competition. The brief called for the re-use of the remaining sections of the Webb Dock Rail Bridge, in order to link the Docklands on the north side to the new residential developments on the south side.
The 145m long existing structure and a new curved 80m long ramped link are the two distinct sections comprised by the bridge. Level changes are taken up by the ramp which creates a point of arrival at the south bank. The changes are joined in a seamless way giving an emphasis on volume and containment within the curved and sinuous form.
The two parts become a unified sculptural form. A new connection, or a knot, between the old and new, past and future is suggested by the resulting structure. An object that becomes, in turn, a place of action and transition as one uses it is what the structure is perceived from afar.
As an object, it appears as a delineated structure, a sensuous volume, light and linear. Space is seen as atmospheric, dynamic and transitional.
