Tabiat Bridge

The Tabi'at Bridge (The bridge of nature) is the largest pedestrian overpass in Tehran, Iran. The 270-metre (890 ft) bridge connects two public parks—Taleghani Park and Abo-Atash Park — by spanning Modarres Expressway, one of the main highways in northern Tehran. The word tabiat means "nature" in the Persian language.

The bridge was designed by Diba Tensile Architecture (Leila Araghian and Alireza Behzadi). It has won several awards, including the Popular Choice Prize for Highways & Bridges from the Architizer A+ Awards, a global architectural competition based in New York. The bridge also won the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture for its exemplary approach to an infrastructure project, "a breath of fresh air" according to the award jury.

Architecture

Three tree-shaped columns support two continuous deck levels which makes the lower level covered and suitable for use in all seasons. A third level is located where the truss meets the column branches. The complex steel structure has a dynamic three-dimensional truss and the surface is curved with a varying width. Structural elements of the bridge use a latent geometrical order rotated and repeated in all three dimensions.

Restaurants serve customers at either end of the bridge with seating areas and kiosks between. Some areas of the bridge are open to allow trees to grow and the bridge itself has green spaces to encourage visitors to linger. The bridge offers viewing areas for scenery without itself