Create an ideabook for your next remodeling project!
Browse more than 1,000,000 photos from top designers and save your favorites
Bridging the Distance Indoors
Airy interior bridges and walkways take getting around the house to a new level
Houzz Contributor. I am an architect and writer living in New York City. I have Bachelor of Architecture and Master in Urban Planning degrees, and over ten years experience in architectural practice, split between Chicago and NYC. Currently I'm focused on writing and online pursuits. My daily blog can be found at http://archidose.blogspot.com
Houzz Contributor. I am an architect and writer living in New York City.... More »
A bridge is normally considered as something that traverses a river, a road, or some other boundary. In the realm of residential architecture it might carry over a pond, ravine, or some other part of the landscape in order to reach the house. But it can also be something inside. This ideabook presents some bridges that traverse spaces indoors, linking different parts of a house in striking ways.
Browse modern stairways
Browse modern stairways
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| This bridge with handrails that appear to float in mid-air straddles a tall living space and connects the first and second floors. You ascend the stair in the foreground, cross the bridge, and ascend again in the opposite direction from whence you came. |
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
At bridge level, it's apparent the glass walkway adds some excitement — or vertigo — to the act of moving up or down a level.
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Here is another glass-floor bridge, though the more robust guardrails give a stronger sense of safety while crossing it. Unique here is how the roof pops up to allow for passage across the space. The architects take advantage of this with windows on both sides and a skylight bringing plenty of light into the space. |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| Another view of the bridge shows how it is placed above casework separating the living and dining areas. In this regard the glass floor helps to bring light to these spaces. |
|
by Workshop/apd
»
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| This bridge takes advantage of the space under a ridge linking two wings at an angle to each other. The various angles of the underside of the roof and plan give the view a dynamic quality. |
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
Equally dynamic is this second-floor box linked by a stair and a bridge.
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
This bridge sits below a long skylight that brings light to the path and the larger space. The glass block helps make the bridge and the movement across the space special.
Here is another bridge capped by a skylight. Note how the bridge surface is a metal grating that lets light filter to the space below.
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
I like the way this small bridge lines up with a couple openings in the distance, giving the impression that it continues outside.
In this complex space, two bridges are visible: the one in the middle photo below the skylight serves the top floor and is placed directly above another stair. Both use metal grating to bring light throughout the space. Note how each bridge has cable guardrail on one side and a solid one on the other, the latter with integral lights that highlight the walking surface.
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
This last batch of examples are technically mezzanines, rather than bridges, but in being open on one side and acting as corridors they are very bridge-like. And elements like the glass floor which is different than the adjacent floor, make this walkway next to a wall of books special.
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| This walkway overlooks not only the large living area but also an outdoor space (at left) at a level above the patio seen through the opposite glass wall. |
Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
This small walkway leads from the top of the stair to a kitchen in the distance. The windows at left, combined with the skylight above the stair, give the sense of a bridge traversing open space.
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| This bridge overlooks a double-height that serves a pool to the left of the photo. Note the door at the end of the walkway ... |
| Like it? Save it to your Ideabook »
|
| It continues as a bridge outside! What better place to end this ideabook? More: Bridges Home — A Sense of Entry Floating Stairs: Walking on Air Artful Stairs: Continuity in Steel Level Changes Define Interior Spaces More inspiring architectural details |
Ideabook published on Jan. 26, 2012.
What are you working on?
News From Our Partners
Latest Ideabooks
People found the photos in this ideabook after searching for:
View over a million photos:
How well does this home handle sound traveling?
2nd +++ pc, creating impact and drama (forms)