CULTURE BRIDGE

CIVIC, CULTURAL

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

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.

THREE NEW PEDESTRIAN BRIDGES FOLLOWING A SERIES OF GENERATIVE DESIGN OPERATIONS

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.

INTERCONNECTED UMBRELLA CANOPIES

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.