Discovering a public space on a cycling bridge

Background

The places we live in are becoming larger in scale every day and to mobilize people, transportation had to evolve with it. Consequently leaving no space for the pedestrians and cyclists, where human activities took place majorly, at a much slower pace. On the contrary, some places did not want cars to define their city streets and brought a permanent change.

Cities like Copenhagen (Denmark), Amsterdam, Utrecht (Netherlands), have changed this norm altogether, by adapting the model of bicycling as primary means of transport and establishing a culture that has survived for more than 50 years. They have ingrained cycling as a habit among its residents, where people of all ages and classes ride a bicycle to work, school, college. 

Cycling is now a symbol of many things and its benefits are not limited to health and the environment. It has helped in building a society that promotes social equality, freedom and had revolutionized women empowerment in the 18th Century.

In such a scenario, where change is perpetual, we have to switch to greener choices i.e. bicycles, which are a symbol of moving towards a sustainable city.  To trickle the culture of cycling all around the world, more than just urban infrastructure is needed. 

A facility that enhances the experience of tourists/ visitors and students altogether can intrigue them to take something back with them. How do we attain this?

Brief

As cities want to become more pedestrian and public, Copenhagen spearheads this movement as a city famous for its bicycles. The challenge of this competition, The City Link is to design a bridge for pedestrians and cycling that is not limited in its absolute function. The aim was to use the bridge as a powerful public space as well as a place for tourists or first-time cyclists to explore the city. 

A bridge that usually serves a single purpose of cutting the travel time between two destinations can be explored for more in this competition. In urban areas that are already condensed with built structures, a functional bridge can be a turning point in shaping architectural experiments, that serve uncharted public space concepts.

The jury for the competition consisted of esteemed designers, professionals and academicians from around the world. The Lead Jurors for the competitions were as follows: 

Evren Başbuğ Founding Partner, Studio Evren Başbuğ, Turkey

Xavier Font Director, Alfa Polaris, Spain

Chloe Natanel Brunner Partner, Preliminary Research Office, China

Silvia Rizzo Architect/Founding Partner, LD+SR architetti, Italy

Miguel Rosales President, Rosales + Partners, United States

The top winning projects of this competition are:

 

Winning Project: The Nordic Link

By: Santiago Muros Cortés

Description: The Nordic Link pays tribute to Danish heritage while addressing modern needs and traditions. A Viking vessel forever docked in the Copenhagen harbor.

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Runner - Up: The City Hub

By: francisco Javier Rodriguez Salas

Description: The design features two entities celebrating the tradition of Danish design with its functional and practical values: a pure minimalistic bascule bridge design and a floating platform offering a great amount of activities and opportunities - a public space close to the water partially covered by the bridge. The bridge becomes the meeting spot in the cityspace lining both sides of the canal and connecting citizens and visitors of Copenhagen.  

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Runner - Up: Floating Islands

By: Paweł Danielak, bartek Brutza & Marceli Sobański

Description: The project is all about creating new green spaces in the city and encourage people to meet each other and cycle.

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Honorable Mention: The Unlocking Bridge

By: Emilia Dzięgelewska & Alicja Maculewicz

Description: We decided to unlock a different possibility of a crossing – the swinging arm of the bridge makes it dual in its nature – in an open position it can facilitate the movement of cyclists and pedestrians across the harbor, but when closed – it opens a new shortcut through one of the bays of Christiania.

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Honorable Mention: The Green Bridge

By: Kamil Ziółkowski

Description: The Green Bridge was created in the way enabling free "flow" of people within different functions and gathering them at different height levels.

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Honorable Mention: Iceberg Bridge

By: Kristiyan Woźniak, Ola Milanowska & Kinga Murawska

Description: The great glaciers of our world in Greenland and Antarctica are slowly disappearing. Enormous parts of Netherlands, Florida and other lowlands are predicted to be flooded by 2050. The bridge is a constant reminder of the world which we will loose if we don't change. It could begin with the choice of cycling over driving.

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Honorable Mention: MOBILITY ³

By: Adrian molitor & Pierre Brillard

Description: Our bridge has two levels…the upper level serving the bicycles or pedestrians and the lower level where the harbor boats circulate. So the project is a station where you can drink coffee, see an exhibition while waiting for your boat or waiting to have your bike repaired. A place where one can have information about the city before taking a tour.

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Honorable Mention: THE SHELTER

By: Eve C.

Description: The bridge as a space-building game that provides shelter for today's sustainable ways, as well as sea and urban birds.

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Honorable Mention: CRYSTAL STRAW

By: Temofey Kuzmenko

Description: The initial form of the bridge is very concise - it is a pipe or a straw thrown over a stream. The pipe has a direct function to transport matter from one point to another, which actually corresponds to the original function of the bridge to transport people. A crystal straw, as a form, is the personification of transparency and weightlessness, fluidity.

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Honorable Mention: THE BRANCH BRIDGE

By: Dho Breuer

Description: The design of the project is inspired by the clash of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea on top of Skagen, Grenen, which translates to ¨the branch¨ due to its long and narrow appearance; a phenomenon that is not seen in many parts of the world and that is possible to observe in Denmark.

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People’s Choice: Viki link

By: Majid Aghazadeh

Description: A bridge with green hills representing Denmark in its historical and modern age inspired by the country's roots in Vikings

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People’s Choice: THE VAYU BRIDGE

By: Harsh Khodiar, Shailin Dayani & Shubham Jangid

Description: FREE SPIRIT. HAPPY LOCALS. HYGGE

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Institutional Excellence Award: The Push

By: Amany Attia & Mina Mohsen

Description: Explore the city through your parents' push and wander in the arms of your beloved ones. The Concept of Childhood sensory memories maximizes the joy and safety sensations. While the shell acts as parents’ supporting hands giving the push to First-bike ride, the souls are two hubs which create funny memories to be explored. 

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Closing comments from our jury panel: The City Link bridge competition illustrates the importance of how a bridge can become both a transportation link and a city making component.  Movable bridges are notoriously difficult to resolve due to the technical constraints.  Several entries creatively and seamlessly integrated the movable components of the bridge into an overall bridge composition.  It was also interesting to see how many competition entries wanted to create livable bridges in which users are not only crossing from one side to the other but also using the bridge as a place to enjoy, rest, pause and experience the beautiful city of Copenhagen.

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Discover the design brief here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/the-city-link/info/about
Discover the full results here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/the-city-link/entries

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