Tabiat Walking Bridge, approximately 270 meters long, spans above Modarres Expressway in the Abbas Abad lands and is the largest pedestrian bridge in the country. The Abbas Abad lands, covering 559 hectares between Districts 3 and 6 of Tehran, have been dedicated to green recreational and cultural spaces including parks, a library, and a garden museum.
The bridge was designed to create a pedestrian link between Taleghani Park in the east and Ab-o-Atash (Water and Fire) Park in the west, which are separated by Modarres Expressway. The design features two main levels, with an additional level rising above two tree-shaped columns on either side of the highway. This design won a two-stage competition organized in 2008 by the Abbas Abad Lands Renovation Company.
With the goal of connecting the eastern and western sections of Abbas Abad, the bridge was designed around five core ideas:
1- Contrary to the conventional understanding of a bridge as a line segment connecting two points, one of the key ideas was that the bridge should branch into multiple paths on each side, linking several points on one side to several points on the other. In Taleghani Park, paths diverge from the bridge and gradually merge into existing park pathways and entrances.
2- Unlike the typical notion of a bridge as merely a passageway from one point to another, this bridge was designed from the start as a space for staying. By incorporating greenery, seating areas, and recreational amenities such as a restaurant and cafe, both parks continue onto the bridge — in other words, they dissolve into one another — providing ample reason to linger.
3- A bridge or any path designed along a straight line, with its single-point perspective, suggests only "going," since the end is visible from the beginning. Here, since the bridge itself is meant to be a place, it needed to be designed as a non-linear path or a combination of multiple paths, so that with the endpoint unseen, the user slows down and is encouraged to wander and explore.
4- Since both sides of the bridge, especially the Taleghani Park side, have many trees, the effort was to place columns and bridge endpoints where fewer trees exist. The number of columns and their ground contact points were minimized to reduce interference with nature.
5- In the design of this bridge, structure and architecture are inseparable. Given that the large structural spans require significant height for load-bearing and stability, the structural depth was chosen to create a usable architectural space. This approach led to the bridge being conceived from the outset as a three-dimensional steel truss with a dynamic form across two continuous levels, resting on three tree-like columns.
The bridge is approximately 270 meters long, with spans of 68, 94, 68, and 39 meters from east to west, and a width varying between 6 and 13 meters. The third level, atop the two main columns, is completely open and can serve as a venue for music performances, theatrical shows, or artistic activities such as painting.
In the structural design, carried out in parallel and iteratively with the architectural design, pipe diameters were minimized, and the overall bridge geometry, floor slopes, floor structural elements, and column diameters and geometry were all optimized. The trusses are fabricated from steel pipes of approximately 50-centimeter diameter, welded on site.
The bridge allows visitors, after parking on either the east or west side, to access a more diverse array of destinations on foot. In the year since its opening, embraced by citizens and tourists alike, Tabiat Bridge has itself become an urban destination. Although in bridges structure is typically more important than architecture, this bridge was designed from the start with an architectural approach.