philly

Last month, I took a trip over to check out the new Weave Bridge at UPenn with my friend Andi. She had seen the bridge from I-76 and I had seen my friend Chris's shot over the summer and finally got to see it myself. The bridge was created by Cecil Balmond, UPenn's Paul Philippe Cret Practice Professor of Architecture in the Master of Architecture graduate program, and Arup's Advanced Geometry Unit. The view above is looking SE from the western side of the bridge.

How to get to the bridge, head over to Franklin Field on 33rd St south of Walnut St. Walk along the South St side of the stadium and follow it as it curves to the left and you'll see the bridge across the train tracks. To get to it, you'll have to go over a smaller footbridge over the SEPTA tracks and then walk under the CSX tracks to what's left of Bower Field (totally torn up for redevelopment by Penn) and up the ramp to the bridge.

Here's the view back towards Center City from the Penn side of the bridge. Some more info on the bridge and the structure for the geeks out there.

Stepping onto the bridge, it feels sturdy, but very skeletal. I stomped on the I-beam on the floor and I could feel the whole thing reverberate beneath me. It's impressive to look at up close and it puts a smile on your face to walk inside of it. Amtrak trains pass by every few minutes and don't cause too much of a tremor at all. This section of Penn's campus is going to be quite a sight in a few years.

I laid (lay?) on my back with my widest 20mm f/3.5, sucking in my stomach to get as much of the bridge into the frame. It's a gorgeous structure. After getting home, I realized I failed to take an adequate photo of the outside of the bridge with Franklin Field in the background. Ugh. I'll head back one of these days.

Some more shots in this flickr set.

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