WSP and PES-Architects design Dancing Bridge in Wuxi

WSP and
PES-Architects have won a competition to design a ‘Dancing
Bridge’ for the central park of Huishan New City in
Wuxi,
China. The cable-stayed bridge will be suspended from
two inclined pylons resembling a pair of dancers.

(PRWEB UK) 30 January 2012

Following success in a design competition, WSP and
PES-Architects have been selected to
design a new pedestrian bridge in Wuxi, China. Entitled ‘The
Dancing Bridge’, the cable-stayed bridge will span a small lake
close to the new bullet train station in the central park of the
Huishan New City area.

Professor Pekka
Salminen of PES-Architects invited WSP Finland’s bridge
designers to join the design team for the competition, based on
WSP’s reputation for its design of iconic bridges.

The bridge is suspended by two independent and inclined pylons
located on a man-made island in the centre of the lake. “Our
design proposal merges minimalistic Finnish design with a
traditional Chinese story,” says Pekka Salminen. “We called our
design ‘the Dancing Bridge’ because the inclined pylons
resemble a pair of dancers.”

“The bridge design features a gentle S-bend which, according to
Chinese tradition, ensures that the traveler will face no
danger, as evil spirits will eventually lose their way in the
curved shape,” adds WSP’s Sami Niemelä. “The bridge deck is a
steel-concrete composite structure and the girder is covered
with stainless steel cladding.”

Construction of the bridge will begin at once and is expected
to open later this year.

In recent years, WSP Finland has won numerous design
competitions for bridges and urban planning projects in
Finland
and Asia. Bridge sites in Finland include Turku, Helsinki,
Tampere, Pori, Joensuu and Kajaani. In Asia, WSP has designed
bridges in Vietnam and India.

”Winning this competition is an important milestone for us in
China. The collaboration between PES-Architects and WSP Finland
is proof that top Finnish design firms can also succeed
in the world’s most important growth areas,” says Kirsi
Hautala, Managing Director of WSP Finland.

For more information:

Bridget Kennerley, Group PR Manager, WSP Group, tel. +44 207
314 4631

bridget.kennerley(at)wspgroup(dot)com

Sami Niemelä, Head of Unit, Bridges, WSP Finland, tel. +358 400
157 998, sami.niemela(at)wspgroup(dot)fi

Professor, Chairman of the Board Pekka Salminen, PES-Architects
Limited, tel. +358 40 545 6845

Notes to Editors:

WSP Finland is a multi-disciplinary consultancy company that
provides research, planning, consulting and design services to
Finnish and international companies operating in the
construction, urban development, transport, environment, energy
and industry sectors. The company employs 350 experts in
Helsinki, Oulu, Järvenpää, Tampere, Jyväskylä and Rovaniemi.

http://www.wspgroup.fi

WSP Finland belongs to the international WSP Group, with 9,000
experts working in 200 permanent offices in 35 countries.
Established in the 1970s, WSP Group is listed on London Stock
Exchange.

http://www.wspgroup.com

PES-Architects Limited is one of the leading and most
international architectural design firms in Finland. The firm’s
most recent projects include the design of underground railway
stations for the new Kehärata (Ring Rail Line) railway in
Finland, the enlargement of the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, and
the design of the Wuxi Grand Theatre and a 192m high skyscraper
in the Chengdu High-tech Zone. Professor and architect Pekka
Salminen founded the firm in 1968, and is currently the
chairman of the board of PES-Architects. The other partners in
the firm are architect Tuomas Silvennoinen and CEO Jarkko
Salminen (M.Sc.).

http://www.pesark.com

###

Bridget Kennerley
WSP Group Plc
+44(0)20 7314 4631
Email Information

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WSP and PES-Architects design Dancing Bridge in Wuxi