Revolving solar sail bridge

Info & Images: Margot Krasojević Architects

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Margot Krasojević Architects’ latest design of a bridge in Mongolia, appears like a robotic mythical bird and is a flexible structure that can be manipulated at will… 

Where Zaha Hadid stood out for her artistic organic silhouettes, Margot Krasojević stands out for her deep-set evaluations of typology, program, and architecture. Her ongoing development of a dialogue between architectural form, geometry, sustainability, and smart materials as an inherent part of the design process, has been dictating terms of the architectural design criteria rather than referring to sustainable technology as a polite afterthought.

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Margot’s latest is the design proposal for a pedestrian bridge commissioned by the Ordos government to cross the Wulanmulun River, located in Ordos city, Kangbashi district Mongolia.

The bridge consists of a main floating section, which gives buoyant support to three expanding walkways, and a carbon fibre triple sail, which is raised and lowered by the buoyancy rotator. A flexible structure, the bridge can relocate by sailing along the river to its new position. To do so, it folds into multiple sections that stack into each other.

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A hydraulic telescopic secondary structure supports the pedestrian walkway. Expanding and contracting into the main body of the primary structure, its movement depends on, where the sailboat bridge is berthed or sailing to. The bridge can be moored along the quayside, sailed into any location along the river or permanently positioned using Caisson foundations, which are floated and sunk into position, thus stabilising it. Screw-in moorings, along with nine-ton anchors, provide further stability to prevent drift.

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Its flexible walkways adapt to different quays and span across the river, expanding and folding accordingly. The hydraulic walkway is supported by the river bank's landing docks, while the main body of the bridge is kept afloat by the sail and its rotator. The walkway’s and the ring frame's weight distribution prevent capsize. The primary ring frame has eight marine floatation airbags to further stabilise the sail rotation.

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Made of lightweight aluminium frame, the sails are clad in a carbon fibre reinforced polymer. They are suspended from a rotating Mobius ballast chamber, which is hydraulically operated by a thruster to rotate and fill with water, to revolve the sail and relocate the bridge. The rotating Mobius element is made from lightweight aluminium enveloped in stabilizer fins and photovoltaic cells, which power the thruster. It consists of five ballast tanks, which fill with water and rotate the sail from horizontal to vertical. The other four tanks are left filled with air so that the sail remains buoyant, when used either as a bridge or sailed to a new position.

An array of cylindrical crossflow turbines skims the water's surface. Acting as a raft, their buoyancy helps support and stabilise the bridge's primary structure.

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When the bridge is in use, the sail is lowered and acts as a canopy over a seated area for people to enjoy the views and the platform gardens. The bridge unhinges from the hydraulic triangular section ring frame and rotates into vertical position to sail down the river.

Solar panels line the walkway providing energy for the three electric motor generators. The bridge can be towed, sailed, or motored into different locations along the Wulanmulun River.

Data Sheet:

Official name of the project: Revolving Solar Sail bridge

Location: Ordos, Kangbashi, Mongolia

Client: Ordos governemnt, Inner Mongolia, China

Architects/ Designers: Margot Krasojević

Project manager: Margot Krasojević

Collaborators: Out to tender