Two giant hands hold up Golden Bridge in Vietnam
A curved golden bridge held up by two giant hands, designed by TA Landscape Architecture, has opened to the public near Da Nang in central Vietnam.
The curved golden bridge at the Ba Na Hill Mountain Resorts Da Nang appears to be held up by two stone hands, which are in fact constructed from fibreglass and wire mesh positioned around steel supports.
Named Golden Bridge, the walkway forms part of an upgraded route between two cable-car stations within the mountain-top resort.
Vu Viet Anh, design principal at Ho Chi Minh City-based TA Landscape Architecture, told Dezeen the design was inspired by the "world of gods, giant things and livings things".
The bridge's hands are decorated with cracks and moss to make them look like aged stone ruins.
"The remarkable appearance of two huge grips looks like they drew the bridge out from the land and adore it as it were a gift from nature," said the practice.
The 150-metre long, five metre wide, pedestrian bridge is held up by simple steel supports with the hands acting purely as decoration. It has a timber deck with stainless steel handrails coloured golden.
"[The bridge] was patterned as precious gold bullion which was dragged out and being treasured by a giant pair of hands between heaven and earth," continued the practice.
According to TA Landscape Architecture the client, Sun Group, was initially hesitant about the design, but was persuaded by the practice.
"At first, the client was quite concerned about this bridge. It took months to persuade them of the final design," added Vu Viet Anh.
Last year Swissrope constructed the world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge across a Swiss valley, while in 2016 the world's tallest and longest glass bridge opened across a canyon in China's Zhangjiajie National Forest Park.