Transparency and Reflection of Stainless Steel
25 June 2009
The office Valente, Valente Arquitetura signed contracts for two urban works of significance in the chaotic landscape of São Paulo, inaugurated last year: the Miguel Reale Footbridge and the Octavio Frias de Oliveira Bridge.
In addition to the author, common features of the works are their proximity to the River Pinheiros and the fact that they are bridges suspended by steel braces. Elegant, they are both examples of the use of steel in architecture.
On the pedestrian footbridge attention is attracted to the presence of stainless steel and to its characteristic rust colour, in the mast, the tray and in one of the means of side access. On the braced bridge, what stands out is the stainless steel supplied by ArcelorMittal Inox Brazil, for finishing the X-mast, 138m high – a height similar to that of a 46-storey building.
The author of the project, João Valente, said: "We opted for stainless steel to impart lightness to the structure. Since there is no transparent shade, the reflective effect of stainless steel gives transparency to the node of support columns."
Stainless steel is used to finish the mast in its side members, creating three continuous lines, like a rail, from top to bottom, according to the details of the design created by the architect, which is compatible with the shape of the mast. In the front section, the stainless steel imparts transparency to the X-nodes, the points at which the straight lines intersect.
Pioneering
The braced bridge, hailed in the Brazilian media as a new postcard of the capital of São Paulo, is the first bridge in the world to be suspended by braces and with curved trays – a solution used to reduce the environment and urban impact of the work.
The use of braces also prevented conflicts on the site of the footbridge, which was able to be carried out without paralysing the heavy traffic in the locality. The use of steel in the mast structure of this work allowed its organic routing in curved lines. João Valente said: "The metal structure gave me the freedom that concrete does not provide."
When considering the architecture, the organic design is concentrated more on the footbridge, whose focus is the pedestrians. For the bridge, the focus was on the vehicular traffic.
Real Parque
The braced bridge is part of the Real Parque road complex and makes the connection from essential avenues to the city traffic. Its capacity is four thousand cars an hour in each lane.
The system for supporting the suspended lanes consists of 72 pairs of braces coated with yellow polymer, "accentuating the contrast with the colour of the sky of São Paulo", explains the architect. Due to the curvature of the lanes, each brace is of a different length, varying from 79m to 195m.
The lighting is provided by searchlights with coloured LED's of low energy consumption, created by Luz Urbana, who is also responsible for the lighting project for the Miguel Reale footbridge.
