Culture Bridge
Adding to the Beijing Tongzhou Grand Canal’s civic and cultural goals, we conceive its future identity as a bridge that connects two foundational themes—a concept of nature, and its physical embodiment in the surrounding landscape. In a synthesis of the Grand Canal with surrounding gardens, estuaries, and urbanism, our proposal imagines three new pedestrian bridges that follow a series of generative design operations. Weaving the individual and the collective, the monumental and the intimate, the manmade and the organic—the project seeks to transform the Beijing Tongzhou Grand Canal into a symbol of a future where civilization exists in symbiosis with nature.
Connecting two new urban cultural centers along the Grand Canal, the Cultured Bridge is concevied as a series of interconnected umbrella canopies. Gently rising up and over the grand canal, each canopy varies in height and plan to varies specific public programs, from exhibition spaces, to cafes and retail.
Client
Beijing Tongzhou District Government
Location
Tongzhou District, Beijing, China
Program
Ecological corridor, landscape bridge, museum, service facility, commercial, cultural arts
Area
35,023m² / 376,984 ft²
Length
659 m (2,162 ft)
Status
Competition
Team
Andrew Heid, Mingli Huang, Xian Liu, Junwei Li, Shunfan Zheng, agence TER, AATU
Distinctions
First Prize
Beijing Tongzhou District Government
Location
Tongzhou District, Beijing, China
Program
Ecological corridor, landscape bridge, museum, service facility, commercial, cultural arts
Area
35,023m² / 376,984 ft²
Length
659 m (2,162 ft)
Status
Competition
Team
Andrew Heid, Mingli Huang, Xian Liu, Junwei Li, Shunfan Zheng, agence TER, AATU
Distinctions
First Prize