This bridge takes you across Paddington Basin and it's also a kinetic sculpture! Watch as it opens up like a traditional Japanese hand fan.
This footbridge might look unremarkable when it is down, but twice a week there’s a real wow moment when the structure rises up into the sky in an action that’s similar to a Japanese hand fan. Listed in The Guardian newspaper’s “World’s Most Striking Pedestrian Bridges”, the bridge even made an appearance in the 2016 Jason Bourne film.
Come along on Wednesdays and Fridays at 12 noon to see it in action.
Designed by Knight Architects, the ‘kinetic sculpture’ is three metres wide and 20-meters long. It spans Paddington Basin just below the floating park and lifts just high enough to allow a longboat to pass underneath. The counterweight fins at the head of the bridge assist the hydraulic mechanism reducing the energy needed to move the structure. You can see the weight of each on the tip of the fins. Please note that in high winds, we do not raise the bridge.
