The first batch of students set off for Finland last week to build the bridge, which is based on a Leonardo da Vinci design and will have a free span of 35m. It is believed to be the longest ice bridge ever. It will be open to pedestrians at an ice festival but will also be subjected to the load of a 2t car to demonstrate its strength.
The 65-metre bridge is due to be completed by 13th February. The international project is being led by a team from Eindhoven University of Technology.
The ‘Bridge in Ice’ is the third ‘ice project’ in Finland by students and staff of the Built Environment department of Eindhoven University of Technology. As in previous years, the project is race against time to complete the structure before the ice melts. In 2014 a team from Eindhoven built the world’s largest ice dome (30 metres across) in just three weeks, and they only just made it due to the unusually warm weather in Finland that year.
The latest project requires twice as much ice – about 900 tonnes in total – and so the team expects to need twice as much building time. The students will be working in severe conditions in shifts day and night for seven weeks.
The bridge will be made with water to which 2% paper fibre is added. The students spray the water in thin layers onto an inflated balloon that serves as a mould and it freezes almost instantly. Once the structure is strong enough, the balloon is removed from under it. The paper fibre that remains after the ice has melted in the spring will be used as compost.
The bridge is based upon a design by Leonardo da Vinci for a bridge over the Bosporus that was never built.
The original intention had been to build 50m free span, but calculations showed that this would not feasible because more ice would be needed than the team could produce.
In total about 150 students and volunteers will be making the trip to Finland to build the bridge. They will come not just from the Netherlands but also from Belgium, England, Scotland, Portugal, Switzerland and Finland. In addition to the students and staff of Eindhoven University of Technology, 10 other educational institutions are participating in the project as well as 45 companies.
The bridge will be the main attraction of an ice festival taking place in Juuka and it is expected, just like past ice projects, to attract thousands of visitors.
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