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Steve Messam: PaperBridge

Set against the verdant greens of the Helvellyn peak in the Lake District, a bridge made entirely from paper takes its place in the British countryside to defy both belief and gravity.

20,000 sheets of poppy red paper and 4 tonnes of stone drawn from the river bed are all that environmental artist Steve Messam is using to create PaperBridge, a stunning intervention into one of Britain’s most dramatic landscapes.

Using traditional stone bridge building methods, starting with stone-filled cages to root the structure to the ground at either side of the river, before using an innovative wooden form to shape the arc of the paper, Messam uses no adhesives or fixings to keep the paper in place. The design of the form comes courtesy of Peter Foskett, who has designed it to be raised fractionally towards the end of the construction to ensure a smooth, compact arch as the final sheets of paper are inserted.

Supplied by the British paper manufacturers, James Cropper, the paper is more commonly found in packaging for luxury brands than in the construction of all-weather, rural bridges. The challenge of ensuring it stands up to all elements, from the weather to curious animals, has not been lost on the artist, who has been careful to ensure that the environmental impact of the installation is close to zero, by selecting colour-fast papers and using stone found only on or near to the site itself.

Steve Messam says: “PaperBridge relies on vernacular architectural principles as used in the drystone walls and the original pack-horse bridges that dot the Lake District, using gravity and the pressure between the sheets of paper to form a strong structure. These have stood, in many cases, for more than a century so the principles of its design ensure it is strong enough to take the weight of people and local livestock if they become curious. None of the red colour will run into the water or surrounding earth and the paper will comfortably stand up to expected weather conditions.”

Anticipated to confuse and delight walkers who encounter it for around ten days, the installation is one of a series of temporary cultural installations set to appear in the Lake District National Park through 2015, commissioned by Lakes Culture. Sited at a stream above Patterdale in Cumbria, the location is deliberately remote, ensuring that visitors can enjoy it in peace and consider the contrast of the construction to the unspoilt, natural setting.