Iran Tehran Tabiat pedestrian bridge

1. TEHRAN Tabiatpedestrian bridge (Nature Bridge)

2. Bridges have always been close to the heart of Iranian identity. Isfahan, Iran’s top tourist destination and a former capital of Persia, boasts two spectacular bridges from the 16th century Safavid dynasty when the city was at the centre of Islamic art and culture. So it is no surprise that a new hi-tech award-winning structure has appeared in the Iranian capital, Tehran. What is a surprise is that it was designed by a young woman.Tabiat (“nature”) bridge, the largest of its kind in Iran, was architect Leila Araghian’s first project. She designed it while a student, winning a local competition for a plan to connect two parks separated by a highway in north Tehran.In designing the bridge, a process which took a total of 4 years, Araghian wanted it to "be a place for people to stay and ponder, not simply pass”. Tehran

5. Construction of the bridge started in 2010, using a total of 2000 tonnes of steel and 10000 cubic metres of concrete before it was finished in October 2014 It hasn’t all been easy. At one point, an Australian company delayed providing Araghian and her colleagues with computer software they needed because the project originated in Iran, which is under international sanctions because of its nuclear programme… Sanctions continue to trouble Araghian even now. Most recently, she was not allowed to enter a top UK architecture competition because she was from Iran…

6. Built on three large pillars, the 270-metre curved structure has broad entrances, multiple pathways and three floors of restaurants and cafes and sitting areas. It was named among the winners of the Architizer A+ awards, a global architectural competition based in New York.

8. The bridge also won the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture for its exemplary approach to an infrastructure project, "a breath of fresh air" according to the award jury

9. Construction of the bridge over a large highway was described as a big challenge, with platforms and temporary tunnels built to ensure that nothing fell onto the road below

10. Tehran’s Tabiat Bridge (Nature Bridge) designed by a 26-year-old female architecture

12. Tabiat (Nature) Bridgeis the first pedestrian overpass inside the country and the largest one in the Middle East

14. Even though the bridges are usually considered as structural projects, here the approach is more architectural

19. Tabiat (Nature) Bridgeis constructed in three floors having several restaurants and cafes and several benches for people to take a rest in the midway

23. The bridge is about 270 meters long and consists of a 3 dimensional truss with two continuous levels that sits on three tree shape columns

24. There are two platforms on top of the main columns forming the 3rd level viewpoints

29. All the levels are connected to each other by stairs and multiple ramps, providing multiple paths throughout the bridge to get from each level to another

31. The lower level which is covered and makes the bridge usable in both rainy and extremely sunny conditions, changes in the width and height of the truss provides a double curved dynamic form

39. There are multiple routes from one point to the other, encouraging pedestrians to wander and get lost on this bridge

42. The widths vary from six to 13 meters

49. Tabriz Nature Bridge (Pol-e Tabiaat) project

50. Tabriz Nature Bridge (Pol-e Tabiaat) project