Footbridge at Angers Saint-Laud Train Station / Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes

In 2020 Austrian Architecture firm Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes completed the design of a new pedestrian bridge at the Angers Saint-Laud train station. The bridge is characterized by a soft, full arch that crosses the entire width of 70 meters, carved into the topography of the city by the bundles of rails. Its substructure consists of a hollow box and steel brackets in which benches with wooden seats are integrated on the west side of the arch.

Footbridge at Angers Saint-Laud TGV Station Technical Information

• Architects: Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes
• Location: Angers, Pays de la Loire, France
• Design Team: Jan Feichtinger, Radek Smrcina, Jordan Kalapchiev
• Topics: Wood Portico,  Bridge
• Dimensions: 150 m long x 8 m wide x 6 m heigh
• Competition year: 2015
• Project Year: 2018 – 2020
• Photographs: © David Boureau

The wooden porticoes become strong identity elements of the bridge. They underline the crossing and enter into a dialogue with the city. They punctuate the journey. By their different distances, their slightly variable sections and the arched layout of the bridge, they open up constantly new perspectives on the tracks, the arriving and departing trains.

– Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes

Footbridge at Angers Saint-Laud TGV Station Photographs

The bridge as a way and a place

It is elegant, light, and links large areas. Striking frames made of laminated wood beams support the roof and lighting, direct the eye, and exalts the bridge into a new Landmark. They change their spacing, the substructure changes its cross-section, accentuating the character of the bridge depending on the situation – entering, ascending stairs, walking, waiting, sitting, watching, exiting. The bridge is a unique construction at the scale of the area with a high-quality course, which raises awareness of the specificity of the place. Its arched course ensures that its ramp gently touches the new promenade on Place Giffard-Lagenvin and the park. Three lifts and stairs create a direct, obstacle-free, and bicycle-friendly connection with the station and hotel, as well as with the platforms of the trains to Paris and Nantes. In its aesthetics, the bridge is an expression of the renewal of the Station district.

Text by the Architects

Angers is the capital of the departments of Maine-et-Loire, in the west of France. The city of 153,000 inhabitants is located about 100 km north-east of Nantes and 300 km from Paris. Angers Saint-Laud railway station is a major transport hub in the city center. A TGV train to Paris stops there 13 times a day, traveling the distance in 1.45 hours. There are about 40 trains a day to Nantes. The station is located rue Auguste Gautier to the north of the railway line; rue Fulton passes to the south of it. In the area of the station, the bundles of rails are about 70 meters wide and cut a deep corridor running towards the city. The old reinforced concrete pedestrian bridge, which crossed directly over the tracks, was severely damaged.

The urban development plans include an upgrading of the area. On the railway station side, offices and a multi-story car park have been built on Rue Auguste Gaultier, and a hotel is under construction. To the south of the bundle of tracks, a new promenade and park will be built on Fulton Street. The bridge for pedestrians and cyclists is part of this modernization and has been won by Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes. Their design is based on the urban scale, overcoming the barrier of the railway tracks and providing direct access for disabled people to the platforms via lifts and stairs.

Above all, it is a unique traffic structure that becomes a landmark with its gently curved path, its constructive elegance, and the remarkable laminated wood porticoes that support both the lighting and the flat roof. The varying distances between these punctuated images of the path offer different views of the tracks, the trains, and the city. Benches along the balustrades invite you to sit down. The bridge becomes a path and a place.

The wooden porticoes become strong identity elements of the bridge. They underline the crossing and enter into a dialogue with the city. They punctuate the journey. By their different distances, their slightly variable sections and the arched layout of the bridge, they open up new perspectives on the tracks, the arriving and departing trains.

They condense towards the middle of the bridge, creating a sheltered atmosphere that invites to pause, while the more considerable distances at the beginning and end of the bridge broaden more and more the view of the city. Work on the volume of this project also includes the shape of each portico. Its angle of inclination changes with the rhythm of the movement. In the middle, the cross-section of the frames is continuously enlarged. This continuous opening of the structures increases the significance of the bridge over the rails.

These wooden frames not only shape the relationship between the passers-by and the place, but they also have a specific function: they serve to integrate lighting, protect against weather and wind. These elements are integrated into their construction.

– Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes

Anti-slip strips are embedded in the wooden footbridge, ensuring that the bridge can be used safely even under adverse weather conditions.

The new bridge for pedestrians and cyclists at the St. Laid railway station is much more than just a railway crossing. It is a unique urban landmark where people like to stop, linger, talk, watch the trains, arrive or depart.

Footbridge at Angers Saint-Laud TGV Station Plans

Footbridge at Angers Saint-Laud TGV Station Image Gallery

About Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes

Dietmar Feichtinger is an Austria Architect who studied at the Technical University of Graz.  In 1989 he moved to Paris and in 1994 he founded Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes, with headquarters in Paris. Feichtinger has taught at a number of universities since 1994 – the University of Paris-La Villette, the RWTH Aachen, the University of Innsbruck and the University of Vienna and has received a wide range of prizes and distinctions.
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