A few weeks ago, we shared the Bering Strait Project which asked participants to create a massive spanning element connecting Russia to America. The design would physically join the world together and could potentially promote world unity and peace. Paris-based OFF Architecture‘s team of Manal Rachdi, Tanguy Vermet, Mathieu Michel, Takanao Todo, and Lily Nourmansouri was awarded second place in the professional category of the competition. Their project “does not simply concern itself with the construction of a commercial or railway link, nor a bridge connecting one continent to another. The amplitude, siting, geopolitical context as well as the global ecological conscience entails a proposal far more audacious, an active project sensitive to the conditions of the site.”
More about the proposal after the break.
Working in compression, the structure’s 10 meter wide parallel walls are held with bracing, which at times is habitable. The enclosed space “becomes an interface for human passage and exchange, providing visitors and inhabitants the opportunity to traverse the Strait by foot, as was originally intended by primary civilizations.” As the Strait’s relatively shallow water levels allow the proposed structure to descend to the bottom of the ocean, users can experience constant views of the entire marine landscape.
