Berlin Contemporary Bridge - 2nd Prize Entry by Ra+b

Ra+b--Design from China shared with us their Berlin Contemporary Bridge proposal that won the second prize in ArchTriumph's recent international competition. Participants were asked to design an iconic contemporary footbridge over the Spree River and between Schilling Bridge (Schillingbrücke) and the Oberbaum Bridge (Oberbaumbrücke), two well-known structures in Berlin.

Scroll down to read all about RA+b's proposal.

Project description:

"The requirement of this competition for us is to design a New Contemporary and Iconic Pedestrian Bridge to serve pedestrians and cyclist over the River Spree in Berlin. As we know that the Berlin Wall as the symbol of the separation in history and it is not far from this competition site.

In our design, we reconstruct Berlin Wall into a bridge which symbolizes the freedom and communication between the two banks. This design will eliminate the estrangement in both geographic and historic way."

"we used the Berlin Wall as the main elements of this design.As we can see the section of Berlin Wall is 'L'.The entire bridge, constructed by the 'L' shape components, shares the same structure as wave on Spree ,so this bridge represents the Berlin Wall and be called WELLE."

"There was a existing bridge Brommy Bridge (Brommybrucke) at the location which was destroyed during the second world-war.There are an existed pier in the river now.For respect the original elements and natural resources, we recovered the existed pier as a public space then makes the new bridge above it.

Artists and designers can displace their artwork on the exhibition panel between each two 'L' unit. That increases the communication between the new bridge and people."

Project Details:

"Title: Berlin Contemporary Bridge by Ra+b
Client: City of Berlin and ArchTriumph
Location: the Spree River in Berlin
Year: 2013
Program: ArchTriumph_Contemporary_Bridge_Berlin
Project Author: Ra+b Architectural Design Consulting Co.,Ltd
Design Team: Lei Zhang .Bo Zhang. Yan Jian Feng. Yi Bin Ji
Bridge Specification: 120m long by 4m wide. "

All images courtesy of Ra+b.

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