Enneüs Heerma Bridge

The bridge is named after Enneüs Heerma (1944-1999), a CDA politician from Amsterdam. It was designed through a competition by the British architect Nicholas Grimshaw and his practice, Grimshaw & Partners, with the architect Neven Sidor, for the City of Amsterdam. Opened in 2001, it links Zeeburgereiland to Steigereiland, which is in turn connected to the artificial islands of Haveneiland, Rieteilanden and Centrumeiland: it is the gateway to IJburg.

In 2002 the design won the Nationale Staalprijs (the Dutch national steel prize) in the category of infrastructure and other steel structures. The jury saw it as a landmark marking the crossing from the old city to the new land. Up close, it found the detailing somewhat coarse, and the inverted middle arches seemed to it superfluous on strictly structural grounds; but with them, it judged, the bridge meets its primary expectation: to be "a magnificent gateway to IJburg".

The bridge crosses the water in five spans of white steel whose profile undulates like two waves. In the centre, two main arches of 75 m each are joined by a 30 m middle span whose arch points downwards; on either side, a 25 m approach span extends the whole. The two main arches are conventional arches, while the inverted arch that links them works as a bow-string truss. The thrust of the main arches is taken by tie rods beneath the deck, which hangs from the steel structure on hangers.

The white girders form two decks with a marked gap between them, to heighten the sense of crossing water. A second, smaller bridge between two islands uses the same materials in a different configuration. The shape of the large bridge has earned it the popular nicknames "Beha" (bra) and "Cup IJ".

The competition-winning design brings together on one structure two tram tracks, two cycle paths, footpaths and several lanes for cars; trams have run over it since 2005. The bridge is an important link between IJburg and the rest of Amsterdam.

A public structure on the IJburglaan, open to everyone.