In a controversial move, Christ Church College has been granted approval for the construction of a new footbridge crossing the A40. But what makes this bridge newsworthy, you may ask? Although only a bridge, it epitomises the fact that no construction project is safe from the inventive thinking of modern architects.
Dubbed the ‘noodle bridge’, Christ Church’s new foray into modern architecture has caused an uproar, with locals slamming it as ‘nonsense’, ‘very ugly’, and ‘totally inadequate’. Certain council members and architects have launched a staunch defence, boasting that the bridge and its odd wavy shape was designed by an ‘award-winning’ architectural firm. To many, it seems ‘award-winning’ and ‘aesthetically pleasing’ do not necessarily go hand in hand.
The new bridge is part of a wider plan by Christ Church to develop a small snippet of its 10,664 acres of owned UK landholdings. The infrastructure forms part of a wider scheme to build 1,450 new homes at Bayswater Brook, located just north of Headington. Adding insult to injury, many locals have voiced that the location of the bridge is inadequate for its very purpose: this new development will massively increase road congestion and is located too far west to make a meaningful impact on future residents.
Despite the litany of concerns, Christ Church’s plan has been approved by both the South Oxfordshire District Council and Oxford City Council. Whichever way your opinion about the ‘noodle bridge’ sways, it now remains only a matter of time before the foundations of yet another exemplar of modern architecture are laid in our great city; Oxford.
