It won’t make people dream as much as a heron tree. It is not poetry, would say the heads of the company La Machine, creators of the work contested last week by the mayor PS of Nantes. Sure, but the new Anne-de-Bretagne bridge looks great. At least on paper.
Johanna Rolland, who a year ago announced that she would present the project for this new work of art in the fall, unveils it this early afternoon, Tuesday 20 September.
A square, a belvedere and almost 1,500 square meters of vegetation
Built in 1975, in the wake of the first oil shock, the bridge laid out the red carpet for cars, the queens of the time. If two lanes will always be reserved for them, now they will have to share the artwork. This will house cycle paths, pedestrian paths and tram lines. But also the square and the belvedere.
Eventually, the surface area of the current bridge more or less tripled. 61 meters on the Quai de la Fosse side, 43 meters on the Prairie-aux-Ducs side. Yesterday very gray, it will take on colors, with 1,270 m² that will be vegetated. This is more than 15% of the deck area.
The architect designed the Mont-Saint-Michel footbridge
Austrian architect Dietmar Feichtinger won the tender. Prix de l’Équerre d’argent in 2015 (which counts Renzo Piano, Jean Nouvel and Christian de Portzamparc among its winners), this architect is known for his works of art, and in particular for the Mont- Saint-Michel.
This member of the Berlin Academy of Arts also built the incredible Simone-de-Beauvoir footbridge, which crosses the Seine from the National Library of France.
An investment of 50 million euros
An investment of 50 million euros voted in the metropolitan council of October 2020, the right-wing elect of Nantes had judged it “disproportionate” . Johanna Rolland had defended a bridge that she would become “A real public space”.
