[2] The bridge creates a pedestrian passage over the Amtrak train tracks that currently separate the main campus from athletic fields along the Schuylkill River.
The design features a "braided rope" structure consisting of stainless steel strands.
It marks the first milestone in the university's plan to transform a former postal depot into a 24-acre (97,000 m2) complex, called Penn Park.
His dynamic and organizational approach to structure is informed by the sciences of complexity, non-linear organization and emergence.
"[5] Balmond founded and runs the University of Pennsylvania's Non-Linear Systems Organization, a research group he set up to explore ways in which architecture can demonstrate, test and apply insights from mathematics and sciences.