Competition Truss Bridge Oirschot

This competition involved the planning and execution of a 40-meter truss bridge over the Wilhelminakanal and associated ramp structures in the Municipality of Oirschot. The basic design was determined by the promoter, with some latitude for the route, choice of materials and detailing. Together with our partners fhp Ploegmakers, Schaffitzel Holzindustrie and InVra Plus, we worked out a durable and low-maintenance variant in wood construction, whereby the variant of a freely weathered truss bridge made of tropical timber proposed by the promoter was transferred to a protected timber construction. For this purpose, the bridge was recalculated with spruce glued laminated timber and designed a cladded construction of laterally arranged Azobe boards and a top sheet metal cover. As a result, the expected lifetime was doubled, the design was not demolished. The planning of the ramp structures provided block-glued glulam sections, which are constructively protected from the weather by concrete slabs laid on the top.