The third bridge by Santiago Calatrava in the Dezeen A-Zdvent calendar is the Campo Volantin Footbridge in Bilbao, a curved and arched structure with a surface of glass bricks.
Completed in 1997, the same year that Frank Gehry's Guggenheim opened in the Spanish city, the Campo Volantin Footbridge provides a pedestrian route across the Nervion River estuary, linking the museum with the nearby Parque Etxabarria.
It also goes by the name Zubizuri ? a Basque word meaning "white bridge".

The architect and engineer, who was born in Valencia, wanted the bridge to appear slim and graceful as it crosses the water, so designed a structure with a gently curving deck. It bends at each end to form ramps that slope down to the ground.
Related story: Quarto Ponte sul Canal Grande by Santiago Calatrava

The bridge has a total span of 75 metres. The 15-metre-high arch overhead supports this deck with a series of steel suspension cables that extend down on both sides.

Writing in his book Calatrava Bridges, critic Alexander Tzonis wrote: "The intelligence, vitality, and originality of the bridge's curved configuration challenged the ordinariness and slow decline of the urban setting, bringing a message of hope and an invitation to imagine better conditions."
Acid-treated glass blocks give the bridge a translucent surface. But due to high vandalism many of the glass blocks had to be replaced, and the city later added a less slippery surfac...