The 25.2m long bridge creates a clearance passage for fishing boats and small touristic ferries to pass under with a clearance of 4m higher than the water level of the canal. The Gulou Waterfront is only one of the bridges planned for the new eco-resort; all of this new infrastructure aims to promote and celebrate the old Chinese custom of constructing villages around canal networks and making them accessible through bridges. This considerate practice does not disrupt the fishing boats moving along the canals but it still allows visitors to move freely around the area.
The bridge is capable of encapsulating the culture and history of the town at many levels: by re-proposing the use of arches as the primary structure of a bridge, widely employed in the historical construction of Chinese buildings: by utilising wood as the main material for the bridge (abundant in Southern China) and by proposing a bridge that resembles a covered corridor (a recurring technique in Chinese culture).
LUO Studio’s intention was to design a piece of infrastructure that was something more than a bridge; the architectural practice longed for the Gulou Waterfront bridge to be a collection of special moments carefully crafted. The space is designed in such a way that a visitor crossing the covered corridor can catch glimpse of the shimmering water underneath, through very small gaps in between the wooden components of the bridge.
LUO studio also added two viewing platforms; these are attached to the lower arched beams through connecting rods. The platforms serve as both stability systems and as extraordinary spots for people to appreciate the landscape of mounds and canals of Gulou in Jiangmen City that were artificially created for fishing and farming. To arrive at the platforms the bridge morphology presents a change of height that is taller at the entrance of the bridge and lower in the middle; mirrored on both sides, the same change of height happens on the other end, generating a dynamic walk that enriches the variation of views visible from several points on the bridge.