Dinosaur Swing Bridge in Crystal Palace Park

What creates the heritage of tomorrow? The team that brought the Swing Bridge to life will describe the process of the bridge’s inception, evolution, and construction, how the design emerged and improved, and how a community deepened their relationship with this pivotal structure that bridges heritage old and new. We will show you design models, drawings, prototypes and crowd-funding tools that grew support from over 600 small and major donors.

You will see the bridge in action and create your own part-model of the Swing Bridge’s structural principles with a laser-cut print-out and demo.

The significance of this Grade-1-Listed site lies beyond the inescapable delight of the concrete sculptures and landscapes from 1854 – it was a groundbreaking innovation in experiential learning through ‘edu-tainment’. This first-ever ‘walk through geologic time’ was pivotal in democratisation of public engagement with science, deserving of the most innovative, complementary structure we can build today.

A collaborative event from the bridge team: architects Tonkin Liu, engineers Arup, metal fabricators Cake Industries and public & heritage advocates Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs.