Bridge of Sighs

Connection between two monuments

Jan Van Stigt Thans has been a regular client of Mei for over 20 years. Van Stigt Thans occupies a refined and stylish listed building on Lange Nieuwstraat in Schiedam. Robert Winkel carried out restoration work on the building as early as the 1990s. In 2003 Mei constructed a glazed addition on the ground floor to connect with an adjoining monumental warehouse bought by Van Stigt Thans: bridge of sighs.

Enhancing character

Now that the top floor of both buildings will be used for residential purposes, Van Stigt Thans has asked Mei to construct a second connecting bridge. This is a complex challenge owing to the difficulty of bridging the height difference, the demands that come with working on a listed structure, and the need for privacy. The design proposal was immediately enthusiastically received by the municipal design review committee for new building permits and monuments, precisely because Mei articulated its addition as a new time layer. Mei succeeded in strengthening the value of both buildings by respecting and preserving their existing character.

The solution found by Mei did not involve repeating the glazed connection. Instead, it proposes a white ‘cloud’. The new bridge of sighs, a self-supporting structure of steel and glass, is faced in white perforated steel panels. Refined, abstract 3D motifs that refer to the original cast-iron ornaments of the balconies of the listed building are incorporated into the panels by means of rubber presses. To ensure the privacy of occupants, what happens inside cannot be seen from outside, but occupants do enjoy views out of the building.

The design is measured by means of a point cloud and then the 3D-BIM model is elaborated on this scanned base layer. The bridge is reversible to allow future owners to remove it if desired. The warehouse can also be restored to its original condition because the openings made in the facade for the bridge have the same proportions as the original window frames.

Renovation in the ’90s

In the late 1990s, Mei renovated the monumental banker’s house and the adjacent monumental warehouse of Van Stigt Thans, and added a glass connecting bridge. The added volume was designed to be as immaterial as possible, with structural glass that is fully demountable. In this way, the connecting bridge was made future-proof.