Gorsa bridge, Sabetjohk

GORSA BRIDGE, SABETJOHK

The County of Kåfjord took the initiative, in connection with an increased focus on tourism, to set up a new pedestrian bridge over the Gorsa canyon (Northern Europe’s deepest canyon) where the rivers Guolasjohka and Magerelva meet in a spectacular waterfall. The bridge completes the hiking-paths that take visitors around the remains of an old mining site; this new structure performs as a panoramic viewing deck and bungee-jump base point.

Status:

Completed 2011

Client:

Kåfjord Municipality

Project group:

Bitschau Gmbh, Dipl-ing- Florian Kosche, Ghilardi+Hellsten Arkitekter

Location:

Kåfjord, Norway

Plan/size:

3800 kg

Consultants:

RIB Florian Kosche

Typology:

Tourism, infrastructure

Photography:

Leo Thomas, Daniel Taipale, Ørjan Bertelsen, Jan R. Olsen,

Florian Kosche, Ghilardi+Hellsten

The design-build conditions such as the site complex accessibility, limited building budget, fast-track schedule and unstable weather conditions, gave little or no tolerance for mistake or correction due to unforeseen variables during the process. In fact, such a process was never attempted before, and it almost failed completely in its most critical moment: the helicopter lift.

The 150m deep and narrow canyon makes it an incredible place for bungee jumping, an activity carried out already on the opening day.

The main structure was engineered in light weight aluminum pipes to be assembled in one piece, on flat ground, some kilometers away from the actual site; then transported and placed over the waterfall airborne. This process imposed a maximum 4 tons weight limit for the 53m span The bridge was realized with a unique collaboration between engineer, contractor and architect from start to end.