All parties agreed on the design of a foot and cycle bridge, connecting the most northern part of the densely populated Randstad with the remaining open fields and the Unesco world heritage sites of the ring of fortresses around Amsterdam.
The word Randstad stands for the ring of cities in western Holland: Rotterdam, Delft, The Hague, Leiden , Haarlem, Zaandam, Amsterdam and Utrecht with approximately 4,5 milion inhabitants. The bridge is a gate in two directions: it marks the border of the cluster of cities on the scale of all Holland and on a local scale it is the connection of city and countryside. The bridge is a border for cyclists and car drivers.
The word RAND means egde or ring, STAD means city. So RAND STAD indicates both the edge of the city and the northern border of the the Dutch metropolis.
The gate in the middle of the bridge consists of two walls and a void, from where you can look down on the eternal movement of traffic. Seen from the car below, you will look like a saint in a niche.
