The bamboo walkway

A footbridge has been built to enable visitors to access the bamboo grove while protecting the young shoots from being trampled. The landscape design class at the University of Applied Arts Vienna held a competition for the design of the walkway through the bamboo grove. It was won by Jessica Gaspar and Nikola Schubert, whose idea of providing access to the grove by means of a walkway echoes the formal language of the bamboo stalks.

The two separate walkways create views into the grove without cutting through the space, which is characterised by the play of light and shade as well as the vertical structure and the specific sounds of the stems and leaves. The framework of the walkways is made of steel, which resembles bamboo in its stability and flexibility. While the hardness of steel is evident, the extraordinary resilience of bamboo is concealed within the plant.

The grid floor reflects the transparency and regularity inherent in the bamboo grove. The diameter of the cells allows the bamboo to grow through the grid and take over the walkway. This fusion of the walkway and the grove means visitors can immerse themselves entirely in the bamboo grove without stepping on its sensitive root network in the ground.