Moxon Architects new Architects’ Journal entry

‘Seemingly effortless, Moxon’s glass and steel viaduct around Taunton Castle belies the complexity of its construction’, writes Felix Mara.

Moxon conceived the bridges as a typology of spans, each with very different structural principles: a viaduct in the case of the Castle Green Bridge, a simply supported beam in for the Mill Stream Bridge and a tied arch to the River Tone Bridge. Their contexts are also very different: a Scheduled Ancient Monument in the case of the Castle Green Bridge, landscaped parkland for the Mill Stream Bridge and a river in the case of the Tone Bridge. The essential point is that they have a shared language of detailed design.

Moxon, also the designer of Taunton’s Third Way Bridge that completed last year, is one of several architectural practices with a convincing portfolio of bridge projects, including Wilkinson Eyre and Clash Architects. These firms bring unique architectural skills to this work, seen, for example, in the use of false perspective in the Castle Green Bridge, which tapers from 5 to 2.6m in width to increase or diminish expected travel distances.

A meticulous note on Moxon’s drawings states that no horizontal paving grout lines should be in the same line within five rows of each other. This refinement extends to practical features, such as drainage gaps between glass decking planks and the strips of grey slip-resistant fritting on them.

Read the full article here.

Photography by Simon Kennedy