Onda Atlántica Footbridge

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 2021 · Authors: Javier Haddad, Ramón Checa, Luis González

This pedestrian footbridge, which connects the Sanapú pier with the Mercado del Puerto, flying over the GC-1, has become a new architectural symbol of the city thanks to the winning project of the public competition called by the Ayuntamiento de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Javier Haddad, Ramón Checa and Luis González are the authors of this unique design that improves communication across the isthmus.

With a total length of 283 metres, the footbridge designed by Onda Arquitectura and Checa Arquitectura features three spans of 63 metres without intermediate supports that provide a sense of lightness. Its undulating shape, originally resulting from site limitations, avoids existing trees while improving the structure’s performance by allowing a design without expansion joints. With a width of 3 metres and a maximum slope of 6%, the level of this footbridge reaches a maximum height of 7.60 metres above street level, becoming a new viewpoint over the city.

The V-shaped profile is the result of the need to mitigate the acoustic impact of the road below, giving rise to an innovative structural system, an extremely efficient triangular profile shape uncommon in the world of bridge engineering, capable of spanning the required curved distances. The programme requirements for pedestrians, cyclists and accessible crossings are resolved with a unique infrastructure.

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