The Pedro e Inês bridge is a

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

opened in 2007 in the town of

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ), officially the City of Coimbra (), is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2021 census was 140,796, in an area of . The fourth-largest agglomerated urban area in Po ...

in Portugal. It was designed by

Cecil Balmond Cecil Balmond OBE is a British Sri Lankan designer, artist, and writer. In 1968, Balmond joined Ove Arup & Partners, leading him to become deputy chairman. In 2000, he founded design and research group, the AGU (Advanced Geometry Unit). He curre ...

Arup Group Arup Group Limited, trading as Arup, is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London that provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment. ...

, and Portuguese

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

António Adão da Fonseca. Spanning the Rio Mondego, the structure is the city's first footbridge and has become locally known as the "bridge that doesn't meet." Partly inspired by

skipping stones Stone skipping and stone skimming are the arts of throwing a flat stone across water in such a way (usually sidearm) that it bounces off the surface. "Skipping" counts the number of bounces; "skimming" measures the distance traveled. History ...

, the design is created from two cantilevered walkways joining in the middle. Each walkway is responsible for supporting the other - the two halves are displaced, giving the visual effect of a bridge that does not meet. ''Wallpaper'' magazine said the bridge "appears at first glimpse to be impossible." The balustrade is made from a clear, fractal pattern crafted in coloured blue, pink, green and yellow glass. The bridge is named for the ill-fated affair between Pedro, the Crown Prince of Portugal, and the Queen's lady-in-waiting,

Inês de Castro Inês de Castro (; in Castilian: Inés; 1325 – 7 January 1355) was a Galician noblewoman and courtier, best known as lover and posthumously recognized wife of King Pedro I of Portugal. The dramatic circumstances of her relationship with Pedro ...

References

External links

Work - Pedro e Inês
Balmond Studio
Footbridge over the river Mondego "Pedro e Inês"
afaconsult *
Business Publications

Arup journal * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pedro e Ines bridge Pedestrian bridges in Portugal Mondego basin 2007 establishments in Portugal Bridges completed in 2007 Peter I of Portugal