On July 1st, 2004, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands officially opened the three Calatrava bridges (named Harp, Zither and Lute) in Haarlemmermeer, complete with a musical extravaganza on the middle bridge, the Zither. The bridges have been designed by the world famous Spanish architect Santiagio Calatrava.

Four year project
Early 2000 the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, Calatrava and ARCADIS signed a cooperation contract for the construction of three monumental cable stayed bridges over the Hoofdvaart. The bridges were planned as part of the main infrastructure for an area with 6000 new houses. With these entrance gates Haarlemmermeer wanted to enter the 21st century as a municipality characterized by change, challenge and ambition.

Santiago Calatrava
Santiago Calatrava, one of the most renowned architects in the field of bridges, was chosen after a competition among three architects. He gained fame with the design of the Felipe II bridge in Barcelona and Satolas airport near Lyon. His latest design is a true eye-catcher: the roof of the Olympic Stadium (Olympic Games August 2004).

For the Hoofdvaart, Calatrava designed a 'family' of three cable stayed bridges with very similar characteristics. Just as with his previous designs, the human body stood model for these bridges. All three bridges have a main steel pylon in the form of a spindle, which varies its position from vertical to inclined along the Hoofdvaart, as travellers pass from bridge to bridge. As landmarks, the pylons pierce the sky and at the same time accentuate the geometrical lines of the polder landscape.

ARCADIS' role
ARCADIS was responsible for the technical design and total engineering. As Calatrava was not familiar with the Dutch legislation and local circumstances, we played a coordinating role. In addition, ARCADIS did budget control, traffic management design, detailed specifications, the European tender procedure, management and supervision.