Tag: bridges | ArchDaily

Elevated Infrastructure and Public Space: Reclaiming the Ground Below

Ananya Nayak — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Elevation is often framed as progress, lifting movement above the friction of the city and smoothing circulation into uninterrupted flow. Every act of lifting produces a secondary condition in its wake. Beneath flyovers, metro lines, and railway viaducts, a second ground emerges as shaded, ambiguous, and rarely planned with the same intent as what moves above. These spaces are not incidental leftovers. They are the spatial consequence of a design decision that privileges speed, clearance, and efficiency, redistributing value and visibility across the city in the process.

Beyond the Street: Climate, Commerce, and the Evolution of Hong Kong’s Elevated Networks

Jonathan Yeung — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 04:00:00 +0000

In 2012, Cities Without Ground: A Hong Kong Guidebook offered one of the clearest documentations of a condition that many residents experience intuitively but rarely name: Hong Kong's dependence on elevated, second-storey urbanism. Through drawings and careful mapping, the book captured how the city's pedestrian networks are routinely lifted above the street—separating people from traffic, extending commercial frontage beyond ground level, and negotiating a hilly topography where "flat" circulation is often an engineered achievement. Since its publication, these systems have only grown in prominence—not only for their sheer spatial complexity, but for the way they recast public space as something continuous yet selective, connective yet curated.

Zaha Hadid Architects’ Danjiang Bridge Nears Completion Ahead of 2026 Opening in Taipei, Taiwan

Antonia Piñeiro — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 05:30:00 +0000

Zaha Hadid Architects was announced as the winner of the Danjiang Bridge International Competition in 2015. At the time, the design proposal sought to minimize the bridge's visual impact by employing a single concrete structural mast to support a 920-meter-long cable-stayed span. Construction began in 2019 on what would become the world's longest single-mast, asymmetric cable-stayed bridge. In October 2025, the final segment of the bridge's steel decking was installed, connecting the east and west banks of the Tamsui River estuary in Taiwan for the first time and confirming its opening date for May 12, 2026.

Hybrid Craft: 5 Pedestrian Bridges Reimagining Natural Materials across Asia

Moises Carrasco — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Transcending their role as mere infrastructure, bridges have long served as powerful architectural statements. This expressive potential is now being explored with renewed vigor across South-East Asia, where a growing number of architects are re-evaluating traditional materials. By championing wood and bamboo, these designers are creating distinctive structures that integrate local craftsmanship with contemporary needs, resulting in landmarks that are both functional and deeply rooted in their landscape.

Transforming Urban Spaces: How to Reintegrate Large-Scale Infrastructure Projects?

Jonathan Yeung — Sun, 15 Sep 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Large-scale infrastructure projects often aim to connect distant locations within urban areas, facilitating quicker transportation, logistics, and commercial activities along their routes. However, while these projects link distant destinations, their substantial physical presence can significantly affect local communities. This may result in the disconnection and disengagement of previously connected neighborhoods, the disruption of public spaces, and generally negative outdoor experiences caused by noise, pollution, and lack of attention and maintenance to these infrastructures.

Landscape Architects Lead Bhutan’s Mindfulness City

Jared Green — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 03:30:00 +0000

“The Mindfulness City will be a sustainable city. To be mindful is to be aware — to perform best,” said Giulia Frittoli, partner and head of landscape at BIG. The Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked Buddhist country in the eastern Himalayas, nestled between China and India. It covers 14,000 square miles and has a population of nearly 800,000.

Architecture and Engineering Side by Side: the Case of Urban Bridges

Agustina Coulleri — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 04:00:00 +0000

The technical needs of the construction of bridges many times guide the development of the design itself. However, architecture is never put aside, rather the opposite. The aesthetics of bridges that we collect in this article are the result of an intense, demanding, and stimulating dialogue between architecture and engineering, where the search for solutions only ends when both disciplines are fully satisfied.

"Nature and Structure Connect to Transform Our Landscapes and Even Our Climate": Marc Mimram on His New Bridge in Austria

Eduardo Souza — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 07:30:00 +0000

Whether figuratively or in an urban context, bridges are a strong symbol and often become iconic projects in cities. Building bridges can mean creating connections, new opportunities. But they are also fundamental pieces of infrastructure that solve specific issues in an urban context. As these involve highly technical equipment, with complex constructions and overwhelming bold structural requirements, they require projects that do not need full integration between architecture and engineering and, in many contexts, is a type of projects that architects are not so involved with. Marc Mimram Architecture & Engineering is a Paris-based office comprised of an architecture agency and a structural design office. In its project portfolio, there are several bridges, as well as various other project typologies. We spoke with Marc Mimram about his latest project in Austria, the bridge at Linz, photographed by Erieta Attali.

Urban Waterways: The Dynamics of Canal Architecture

Eric Baldwin — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 07:30:00 +0000

Architecture remains in constant tension with natural forces. Designed around gravity, climate, and time, buildings are always part of larger systems. Throughout the world, designers have tried to mitigate natural forces by constructing hybrid spaces and structures, artificial areas where nature meets the manmade. Embodying this relationship, canals reflect a desire to direct nature and its flows. Today, these fluid spaces are opening up to new programs, projects that explore modern life and urban vitality.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro's 550-Ton Steel Bridge Lands in Colorado Springs

Eric Baldwin — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 05:00:00 +0000

A new 550-ton steel bridge has been placed next to the new United States Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs. The bridge was designed by the same team as the adjacent Olympic & Paralympic complex - Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Anderson Mason Dale, and KL&A - while taking inspiration from the motion of athletes. The design features a 250-foot curved steel structure that was made to float above the rail yard.

KILD Wins Competition for Kaunas Pedestrian and Cyclist Bridge in Lithuania

Kaley Overstreet — Fri, 17 Aug 2018 08:00:00 +0000

KILD has been announced as the first place winner for a design competition in Kaunas, Lithuania’s second largest city. The competition sought for innovative and eco-friendly proposals for a pedestrian and cycle bridge that would connect the downtown area to Science Island.

Call for Submissions: AIANY + ASLANY Transportation + Infrastructure Design Excellence Awards

Rene Submissions — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 11:48:00 +0000

The AIANY + ASLANY Transportation + Infrastructure Design Excellence Awards recognize exceptional design by New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania AIA and ASLA members. The awards program is open to registered architects, landscape architects, and planners.

Built and unbuilt projects will be reviewed for their innovative design approaches to transportation and infrastructure. AIANY + ASLANY will recognize projects that reflect a commitment to sustainability, community engagement, and civic architecture.

Students enrolled in and recent graduates (2018 graduation year) of an accredited architecture, landscape architecture, and planning programs are also eligible.

Award Categories
Structures – recognizes design excellence in commissioned and completed buildings, bridges,

X Bridge / Atelier Groundwork Architecture

舒岳康 - SHU Yuekang — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 20:00:00 +0000

As a connection of buildings between the north and the south in Nanjing Newspaper Cultural & Innovative Park, and in order to respond with the genius loci, the X Bridge combines the design of space and its load transferring of structure instead of conventional decoration after structural build-up. The structure is formed by the main and secondary trusses which are joined innovatively together in X-shape to support each other to insure stability and strength of the whole structure.

NEXT Architects' Zalige Bridge Transforms Into Stepping Stones During Flood Conditions

Patrick Lynch — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 13:30:00 +0000

In a country famous for its below sea level towns, combating flooding has been a key challenge for Dutch designers for centuries, resulting in the construction of numerous dikes, levees and seawalls across the country. But when tasked with creating a new pedestrian link across an urban river park in Nijmegen, NEXT Architects and H+N+S Landscape Architects decided to try a different approach: to celebrate the natural event by designing a stepping stone bridge that only becomes useful in high water conditions.

RSHP and Aedas Unveil Boundary Crossing Building for World's Longest Motorway Bridge in China

Patrick Lynch — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) and Aedas have unveiled the design of a new boundary crossing that will serve as an important transportation exchange point within the Pearl River Delta, linking Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. Already under construction, the project is expected to be completed in 2019.

Work is Underway on The World's First 3D-Printed Metal Bridge

Patrick Lynch — Tue, 14 Nov 2017 06:00:00 +0000

Dutch 3D-printing start-up MX3D has revealed new details about their plans to install the world’s first 3D-printed metal bridge over a historic canal in Amsterdam.

How Bridges Evolved Into Signifiers of Urban Identity

Ella Thorns — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 09:30:00 +0000

Increasingly close collaboration between architects and engineers has caused an explosion in bridge design over the last few decades, resulting in structures that are both bold yet rational. As a result, cities have exploited bridges as great monuments of design, to foster pride in the residents and promote themselves as a destination for tourists. These ideas have inspired photographer Greig Cranna as he travels the world, capturing the elegance of today's bridge infrastructure.

New York's $4 Billion Tappan Zee Bridge Project Set to Open to the Public

Patrick Lynch — Thu, 24 Aug 2017 16:40:00 +0000

The long-awaited replacement for New York City’s longest bridge, the Tappan Zee, is set to open to the public on Friday, announced Governor Andrew Cuomo. After four years of construction, the first of the $4 billion dollar project’s twin two-span cable-stayed structures will welcome automobile as well as pedestrian and bicycle traffic for the first time.