Unbuilt Bridge Proposals
A series of design proposals made for bridges that were never constructed.
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Platte River Pedestrian Bridge
Denver, Colorado
2001
The structure is the second of three pedestrian bridges designed to extend the 16th Street Corridor across the Central Platte Valley and into the west Denver neighborhoods. The 210 foot clear span was intended to be constructed over the South Platte River replacing the last of the old city vehicular viaduct system that provided access over the Platte valley in the early part of the 20th Century. Designed to be a focus of the new Commons Park, an urban park reclaiming rail and industrial land along the Platte River, the steel splayed arch structure is a sleek contemporary version of the traditional arch span often found in pastoral settings.
Shenzhen One City Garden Bridge
Shenzhen, China
2013
Vanke One City is a large-scale mixed-use development in the Yantian District of Shenzhen. The center of the development is a public park that connects Wutong Mountain with Mirs Bay. The park is lined with dense mixed use development.
The park is bisected by Wutong Road, a busy main traffic artery. The Garden Bridge was designed to cross over this roadway as a 150 meter long “S” curve promenade following the pattern of pathways through the park. The bridge springs from grade on the east approach and rises 5.5 meters over the roadway to a viewing platform at the west approach.
The design concept developed into a double helix “tube” with the landscape lined walkway placed inside the tube. A seemingly random perforated skin provides some sun control with the landscape following the inside of the tube providing a light filtering landscaped tunnel separating the pedestrian from the busy roadway below.
The structure was planned to be constructed over existing underground parking structures. Care was taken to align required foundations with void spaces within the garage to minimize impact.
This project was designed by Steve Chucovich while consulting with Buro Happold
Shenzhen One City Garden Bridge overall view (above). Garden walk interior of the helical structure with plantings and shading elements
Inspiration for the Design
came from the shape of the
tea leaf
Construction- Summer 2015 The complexities of the form and scale of the structure are now revealed.
Squibb Park Bridge
Brooklyn, New York
2010
An invited design competition was held in 2010 to complete one of the last urban elements linking Brooklyn Bridge Park back to the City. The challenge was to design a link between Squibb Park in Brooklyn Heights and the new Brooklyn Bridge Park, a 1.3 mile long park reclaimed from industrial and abandoned land along the East River in New York. The designated site for the bridge was a narrow corridor between two future building sites that required negotiating a 60+ foot grade change between the two parks.
The complexity of the site, constraints and challenges dictated that multiple structure types would be required to address all of the conditions. We chose then to organize these hybrid elements into unique experiences.
Crossing a busy roadway, the upper segment is an enclosed rectangular steel truss clad in a loose pattern of panels that enhance the play of light and the ambient sound. The walking surface inside slopes inside the level tube toward the river. This slope changes the proportions of the interior space which ultimately opens up into a dramatic vista of the park, river and Manhattan beyond.
The second design element is composed of 3 gantry type pylons and cable configuration that carries the suspended deck. The structure is inspired by the memory of gantry cranes of cargo ships that off loaded cargo on this site. This suspended bridge deck then rotates around the pylons to the north revealing a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. At this point the viewer is standing above and viewing down along the park promenade.
Finally, the pedestrian moves gently down a carved landform parallel to the promenade to join this public walkway.
This project was designed by Steve Chucovich while consulting with Buro Happold
Squibb Park Bridge concepts were developed from the imagery of the movement of cargo to and from ships at the piers below Brooklyn Heights.
