Glass Bridge (not Yet Realized)

 

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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

0

  • Work on this object ended.

2003

  • Work on this object began.

2015

2026

  • You found it!

Glass Bridge (not Yet Realized)

This is a Glass Bridge (not yet realized). It was made for (as the client) Hewlett-Packard. It is dated 2003. Its medium is sheet glass.

Is it possible to make a bridge out of glass?
To celebrate the luminous potential of glass and use it as a sole structural material, the studio experimented with compressing 1,200 pieces, or 154 tons, into a traversable beam. Bridges have been built using compression since the stone arches of antiquity; this new design squeezes sheets of industrially produced flat glass horizontally. The studio developed this concept and investigated its feasibility with scale models and prototypes in collaboration with bridge-design and glass-technology experts. A test with full-size rigs proved that the glass beam was strong enough to support a person standing at its midpoint.

It is credited Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio.

  • Gazebo
  • stacked birch plywood.
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  • HSP.05
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  • Rolling Bridge
  • painted mild steel, stainless steel cable, wood, aluminum.
  • Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio.
  • HSP.12

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/85006429/ |title=Glass Bridge (not Yet Realized) |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 March 2026 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>