TOGETHER AND APART BY ANTHONY GORMLEY IS ALSO KNOWN AS BROWN THOMAS
If you visit Limerick you may come across a department operating under the name “Brown Thomas” but when students mention “Brown Thomas” they could well be referring to this sculpture by Anthony Gormley.
Cast iron sculpture 700kg 189 x 48 x 24 cm
Installed at University of Limerick 21 February 2001
Sir Antony Mark David Gormley OBE RA (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; Another Place on Crosby Beach near Liverpool; and Event Horizon, a multipart site installation which premiered in London in 2007, around Madison Square in New York City, in 2010, in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2012, and in Hong Kong in 2015–16.
In 2008, The Daily Telegraph ranked Gormley number four in their list of the “100 most powerful people in British culture”
THIS IS KNOWN AS THE LIVING BRIDGE AND IT FEATURES FOUR PLATFORMS OF REFUGE
This visit I tried my best to photograph all the bridges in Limerick, especially those that I had not photographed before. I should mention that I have visited and photographed the “Living Bridge” a number of times but this time I managed to get some new views of the structure.
“The Living Bridge – An Droichead Beo” is a unique design by Wilkinson Eyre Architects, London and consists of seven 50-metre spans linked together by piers which create four platforms of refuge for walkers.
The platforms are designed to accommodate social gatherings, informal teaching sessions, music and dance performances, as well as a wide array of educational, social and cultural activities – all contributing to this facility’s status as a “living” bridge”.
The bridge alternates between rhythms of bridge and island, with lightweight bridge structures joining to more solid pier locations. This is reflected by the change in construction materials from steel to concrete and the transition from open parapets to solid pillars and glazed side walls which serve to shelter the “inhabitants” of this animated facility.
The architects designed the bridge to move in a beautiful flowing line across the Shannon, mirroring the river. The design conveys the sense of a series of bridges leaping from pier to pier, each supported by one of the existing islands in the riverbed. This gives the traveller the sense that they are crossing the river on stepping stones.
From the south campus, access to the bridge is through what presents itself as a hidden gateway in the Millstream Courtyard and provides a vital link between the Glucksman Library, Concert Hall and Millstream developments to the Health Sciences and the new Irish World Academy of Music and Dance on the north bank. An impressive Plaza will welcome you to Clare once you have travelled over the bridge.
The Pedestrian Living Bridge project was resourced through a partnership of private and public funding and was assigned to Arup Consulting Engineers in Dublin. Kerin Contract Management in Limerick managed the project while building work was undertaken by Eiffel Construction, France’s largest bridge builder.
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