Bridge of Apollo

Item	Details
Location	Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Year	2021
Client	Competition
Category	Fun Architecture / Mobility Design
Status	Conceptual
Design Style	Experimental / Playful / Myth-Inspired

Project Overview

Inspired by ancient Greek mythology and the symbolic power of movement, the Bridge of Apollo reimagines urban mobility as a playful, emotional, and sensorial experience. The concept celebrates cycling not just as transportation, but as a ritual of victory and joy—rooted in the mythos of Apollo and the laurel wreath, once awarded to champions of the Olympic games.

Design Narrative and Conceptual Foundation

The bridge draws on the form of the laurel wreath, wrapping and curling its pathways into dynamic loops that engage the user’s body, vision, and rhythm. It transforms a simple act—riding a bike—into a full-bodied, celebratory experience. Like Apollo crowned with leaves, each cyclist is framed as a victor in motion.

This project positions the bridge as both functional infrastructure and symbolic stage, where mobility becomes metaphor and interaction becomes ceremony.

Mobility and User Experience

The structure hosts four bike and pedestrian paths, each uniquely colored to guide movement and emphasize individuality. Three side paths are dedicated exclusively to cycling, while the central path is shared between cyclists and pedestrians, fostering social interaction within a choreographed flow.

Rather than focusing solely on technical efficiency, the design emphasizes experiential architecture—a bridge that plays with gravity, speed, and spatial perspective. By curving, rising, and falling, it simulates a sensation akin to a roller coaster, encouraging moments of exhilaration and reflection.

Emotional and Bodily Interaction

This bridge is not a passive structure; it engages the user’s body and emotion through continuous spatial stimuli. Acceleration, balance shifts, and viewpoint variation trigger a dialogue between physical movement and psychological perception.

The intention is to stimulate the body, not just in terms of motion but in well-being. Referencing speculative medical studies, the designers pose the provocative idea that such movements—similar to centrifugation—may support metabolic functions or even assist in dislodging kidney stones, as seen in roller coaster therapy. While playful, this hypothesis highlights a serious question: Can infrastructure heal?

Visual Communication and Graphic Language

Illustrations and renders complement the project’s narrative by framing the bridge as a lived experience. Each drawing is treated as a personal diary—raw, intimate, and layered with interpretation. The graphics do not merely show form; they evoke emotion, grounding the mythological concept in real human interaction.

The blend of traditional and contemporary design language reinforces the duality of the project: ancient symbolism rendered in modern materials, motion expressed through geometry.

Conclusion

The Bridge of Apollo is more than a structure; it is a spatial poem that fuses mythology, movement, and urban life. It questions what bridges can be—not just connectors of geography, but amplifiers of human emotion and imagination. By merging symbolic design with kinetic experience, it proposes a new typology of urban mobility—one that honors myth while pushing the boundaries of form and function.

Architectural design for fun no more

We want to promote the use of bike mobility to the users and make them feel victorious for using this kind of transportation. We want them to be active in all aspects and take the experience from both environment and the structure itself. We don’t focus solely on its idea, but also to emphasize and give the users a different experience from biking. There are four bike paths and it’s represented with different colours. The three curled paths are designated for bike lanes, while the middle path is designated for both pedestrian and bike users.

The illustrations and renders shows the process and compliment the structure by its innate state. Graphical representations tend to be intimate and personal to give emphasis on the idea given by the designers and researchers. Achieving this type of arrangement, we tend to mix the traditional and contemporary approach in designing mobility structures.

The emotional relationship of the physical movement with the human body and the bridge is of great interest to the design. The change in the attractiveness of the user will give many factors and the distinctive effects on the human body and the movement of cells for the human being. Fun like a roller coaster, but this physical change in body movement will allow the eye to perceive and interact well with the body by increasing and moving at different speeds. This will make an enjoyable view of the surroundings and regenerate cells according to gravity. Some (initial) medical studies indicate that the roller coaster contributes. In getting rid of kidney stones, this is the positive point of the bridge design and the different movement that is similar to the centrifugation