Touching lightly: the Nancy Pauw Bridge

This timber pedestrian bridge spans 80 meters over the glacial Bow River in the town of Banff, within Canada's first national park. Creating an extremely shallow, near-pure arch, Nancy Pauw Bridge was built with stepped Glulam girders and weathering steel haunches.
 
While appearing effortless, much effort was put into the design and planning to both minimise environmental impact, during and after construction, and create a bridge that would complement the setting.
 
This lecture focuses on the following:

• Understanding the client’s brief and the tight functional and environmental constraints

• Site challenges

• The use of natural materials like timber

• The technical challenges involved in achieving the extremely slender span

• Foundation solutions and soil-structure interaction

• Fabrication and shipping

• Erection ideas and installation

• Deck and guardrail solution

• Vibration considerations

• Durability considerations