FunambOule

The result of a multidisciplinary collaboration between architects and engineers, FunambOule is a self-supporting footbridge spanning a pedestrian portion of Saint-Catherine Street, in Montreal, Quebec. Designed by Architecturama and Latéral, the footbridge allows visitors a new vantage point where the famous multicoloured suspended balls by Claude Cormier et Associés are at eye level. FunambOule was conceived as a self- standing span that can be disassembled and reassembled at a new location each year. A Sensory Experience - Reminiscent of tightrope walkers, visitors float six metres above the street, blending with the balls. Walking on the open grating is akin to birds perching on a wire. Visitors may even be able to experience the suspension bridge effect and fall in love! (Capilano Suspension Bridge experiment study, Donald Dutton and Arthur Aron, psychologists, 1974) Creativity and Technical Know-how - Being a creative architectural installation as well as having an inherently marked structural expression, FunambOule is the result of a strong collaboration between architects and engineers who worked jointly to define and optimize the shape and architectural expression of the project, as well as the overall constructability. The steel members used were optimized for transport and ease of manipulation—the entire construction being assembled like a giant Mecano.