Simone Veil Bridge by OMA / Rem Koolhaas and Chris van Duijn opened in Bordeaux

The Simone Veil Bridge, designed by OMA / Rem Koolhaas and Chris van Duijn, has opened. The project consists of a platform stretched across the River Garonne in Bordeaux that is 549 meters in length and 44 meters wide...

Photo by JB Menges, courtesy of Bordeaux Metropole

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From the architect: The bridge provides a new public space for the city. It abandons any interest in style, form, and structural expression in favor of a commitment to performance and an interest in future use by the people of Bordeaux. Cars, modes of public transportation, and bicycles all have their own lanes, with the largest by far dedicated to foot traffic. The width of the bridge’s platform is doubled to create 28 meters of neutral, unprogrammed space that can be used for any cultural or commercial purpose, such as farmers’ markets, art fairs, bicycle rallies, car club meetings, and festivals for music or wine.

Photo by JB Menges, courtesy of Bordeaux Metropole

Today, bridges are often narrowly evaluated in terms of their technical utility and their function as tools for the expansion of the city and its periphery, largely driven by cars. The role of bridges as urban spaces in themselves has been lost and is need of resurrection. The Simone Veil Bridge opposes the current obsession with bridges as triumphant feats of engineering or aesthetic statements and recovers their urban character as open spaces where events can happen. This is an alternative definition of what a twenty-first-century bridge can be. Its points of reference are bridges that are places not only for circulation but also for leisure and commercial activities—including Venice’s Rialto Bridge and incarnations of Galata Bridge across the Golden Horn in Istanbul in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Bringing together different forms of traffic and potential actions creates a contemporary boulevard that can exist in various configurations of intensity. The bridge contributes to a strongly optimistic expectation for the metropolitan life of Bordeaux.

Photo by JB Menges, courtesy of Bordeaux Metropole

The Simone Veil Bridge is conceived to create a linked identity for the areas on either side of the Garonne. It connects the development of Floirac on the right bank, where sculptural and functional objects are arranged to provide public amenities, with Bordeaux and Bègles on the left bank through green space that is subtly woven into the urban fabric, including with the reuse of a former highway. The bridge provides fundamental continuity for the city’s territory, through connection but also through its performance as an urban platform in a landscape.

Photo by Clement Guillaume, courtesy OMA

This project was undertaken by Rem Koolhaas and Chris van Duijn, with key contributions from Gilles Guyot.

Rem Koolhaas, Partner, OMA: “This bridge is for the people, not for connoisseurs. Rather than concentrating on form, the project focuses on performance. Instead of spending its budget on structural gymnastics, it doubles the width with a public space to serve and connect the two adjoining communities that so far have not developed a strong identity. On the model of bridges like the Rialto in Venice, this extra public space can be used for any purpose: popular, commercial, cultural, political...”

Chris van Duijn, Partner, OMA: “Our design for the Simone Veil Bridge is like a stage but without the theatre. In an era of icons and landmarks, it is very special that the city of Bordeaux decided to build this anti-iconic design.”

Gilles Guyot, Project Manager, OMA: “To do its duty the project needs to fade away, to be an open table for possibilities. The ruban has become urban.” 

Photo by Clement Guillaume, courtesy OMA

Architect: OMA
Client: Bordeaux Métropole
Location: Bordeaux, Bègles and Floirac, France
Year: 2024
Partner in Charge: Rem Koolhaas, Chris van Duijn
Project Architect: Gilles Guyot
Design Team: Clément Blanchet, Margarida Amial, Henry Bardsley, Denis Bondar, Kimiko Bonneau, Solène de Bouteiller, Alice Chen, Emily Crabb, Alban Denic, My-Linh Dinh, Paul Feeney, Camille Filbien, Marc-Achille Filhol, Stavros Gargaretas, Romina Grillo, Hanna Jankowska, Henri Kapynen, Min Hong Khor, Sang Woo Kim, Pierre-Jean Le Maitre, Pierre Levesque, Salma Maaroufi, Lawrence-Olivier Mahadoo, Pierre-Jean Le Maitre, Deborah Mateo, Edward Nicholson, Ana Otelea, Jerome Picard, Ana Reis, Maria Aller Rey, François Riollot, Claudio Saccucci, Irgen Salianji, Kristin Schaefer, Sai Shu, Helene Sicsic, Lukasz Skalec, Saul Smeding, Ida Stople, Jan Szymankiewicz, Xavier Travert, Nicola Vital
Engineers: WSP and Groupe EGIS
Landscape: Michel Desvigne Paysagist
Lighting: Les éclaireurs

Photo by Clement Guillaume, courtesy OMA

Photo by Clement Guillaume, courtesy OMA

Photo by Clement Guillaume, courtesy OMA

Photo by Clement Guillaume, courtesy OMA

Photo courtesy Bordeaux Metropole

Photo by Clement Guillaume, courtesy OMA

Photo by Clement Guillaume, courtesy OMA

Photo by Clement Guillaume, courtesy OMA

Courtesy OMA