Campus-Brücke Mainz | Mainz, Germany |2015

Architects: schneider+schumacher
Associate Architects: Schüßler-Plan Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH
Client: Stadtplanungsamt, Mainz
Contractor: schneider+schumacher
Photographers: Jörg Hempel

New Campus Bridge in Mainz results from a planning competition held in 2008.

The bridge links the Johannes Gutenberg University campus on one side with the Hochschule Mainz site on the other.

The bridge’s distinctive proportions, and the extensive views it offers over the Rhine valley make it an ideal meeting place located between the two universities. Approaching from street level, it also creates a memorable landmark.

The “folded” surfaces forming the bridge’s underside and its parapet walls echo the structural forces acting on the bridge. The resulting shape evokes several associations.

The bridge appears geometric and digitalized with its original form and intelligent construction. The same logical approach to structure and form is reflected in two supports that emerge from its underbelly.

A similar logic informs the sharply angled parapet walls, which ensure the top of the balustrade is kept clear of the bridge edge. Since the university campus site also functions as a parking lot during football league games, on match days some 12,000 visitors are expected to traverse the bridge.

The distance between the balustrade and the bridge edge is designed to make it difficult for anyone to throw objects down onto passing cars below.

In section, these angled surfaces also augment the ramp’s headroom and contribute to the bridge’s light and streamlined profile.

Low-output lighting provides appropriate and effective illumination on the inner surfaces of the balustrades and underside of the bridge. And at night, the illuminated bridge creates a visible symbol representing both the University and the Hochschule.

In addition the bus stop, stairs and ramps are well illuminated. The end result is a coherent overall picture.