engineering.
Oops! Looks like your browser is out of date. Is this page displaying correctly? If not, try upgrading your browser or use a different one.

Vaughan Way Footbridge.

As part of the regeneration of Leicester city centre, a limited competition was commissioned by developer Hammerson to design a John Lewis flagship store and a new landmark link bridge to join the new store to a multi-storey car park. We supported the winning design entry by architect FOA.

Glazed footbridge linking a car park and new department store across a busy ring road

Location
Leicester, UK
Client
Hammerson plc, John Lewis Partnership
Architect
Foreign Office Architects
Project Value
£ 1 million
Status
completed 2008
Expertise
Structures

The footbridge is essentially a glass tube that provides access from the car park into the John Lewis department store. The delicate transparent bridge, 3 m wide by 36 m long, crosses over Vaughan Way, a six-lane main ring road around Leicester without any supporting pier rising from the ground. Despite the significant structural challenges the restricted heights, levels and span commanded, the client remained committed to a high-quality architectural design and was not prepared to compromise the transparency and elegance of the design.

To create a real sense of arrival towards John Lewis, the footbridge gradually funnels up and out, changing in scale from 3 m to 6 m wide and 4 m to 7 m high as it crosses from the car park to meet the glazed façade of the department store.

Our concept design for the frameless, translucent structural glazed cladding of the bridge saw glass roof panels supported transversely by laminated glass fins, appearing to float above continuous glass walls that run the full length of the footbridge. The elegant glazing is effectively self supporting, restrained by the deck and propped at mid-height by the structural handrail before cantilevering up to the full height of the walkway. The outcome allows pedestrians to walk towards the lace-like façade of the store through an extraordinary, seemingly weightless, glass tunnel.

 

Two
Manhattan
West
Lobby
'Radiant Lines'
installation
 
 
A Brick for Venice thumbnailA Brick
for Venice.
 
 
One
Gosvenor
Square
 
Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities thumbnailThe Stephen A. Schwarzman
Centre for the Humanities
 
 
Albert Bridge House thumbnailAlbert Bridge House.
 
 
 
Edgar's Sheds thumbnailEdgar's
Sheds.
 
 
Luton     Town FC
Stadium.
 
 
St Pancras Campus thumbnailSt Pancras
Campus.
 
 
Wind Sculpture
(TG) I
 
 
Sentosa
Sensoryscape.
 
 
The
Beacon.
 
 
Liverpool
School of
Architecture.
 
Malaika
School.
 
 
Cherry
Groce
Memorial.
 
Khudi
Bari.
 
 
Haus Gables thumbnailHaus
Gables.
 
 
10   Lewis
Cubitt
Square.
 
'Drift'
footbridge.
 
 
3290_HighRes_render_N9_hdThe
Gaumont.
 
 
5448_N8_hdCrinkle-Crankle
Concrete.
 
 
4926_HiRes_rendering_N7_hdApex
1.
 
 
5008_highRes_image_N3_hdUCB
Headquarters
Campus.
 
Manor    Road
Quarter.
 
 
17 Charterhouse
Street.
 
 
Brent Cross
Plot 15.
 
 
100-West-Cromwell-Road-thumbnail100
West Cromwell
Road.
 
Brent Cross
Plot 25.
 
 
Chapter
London
Bridge.
 
Roatan
Prospera.