Schwandbach Bridge

The Schwandbach Bridge is a deck-stiffened reinforced concrete arch bridge near Bern in Switzerland, designed by Robert Maillart and completed in November 1933 at a cost of 47,298 CHF.

[1] The bridge has a main span of 37 metres, and a total length of 55.6m.

[3] It supports the bridge deck via 160 mm thick reinforced concrete cross walls.

[4] This arrangement helps to resist centrifugal forces from the traffic loads and from the curved deck's tendency to twist.

In 1947 the bridge was featured with other of Maillart's works in a four-month exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, New York[5] The architectural historian David Billington has written:[6] "Integration of form here is as fully developed as in any concrete bridge ... All parts exhibit their true thicknesses, with nothing hidden for effect ... With the two mature masterpieces at Töss and Schwandbach, Maillart reached a climax in his building of deck-stiffened arch bridge."