ad: Annual 2024 Now Open For Entries!
*

Designs unveiled for Bath Quays Bridge competition

Published by

Six designs from six different teams were revealed this week for a new bridge over the River Avon in Bath. The Bath Quays Bridge will link a new development on the bank of the River Avon with Bath's UNESCO-protected city centre, which is renowned for its gorgeous Roman ruins and Georgian architecture. It's especially important, however, as it will be the first new bridge to be constructed over the river in 100 years! A competition to design the £2.5 million bridge was launched by Bath and North East Somerset Council back in February and from the fifty designs submitted, six shortlisted teams were asked to develop proposals, these proposals are now available for public judgement.

Six designs from six different teams were revealed this week for the Bath Quays Bridge over the River Avon in Bath

The six teams chosen were London architecture studio AL_A led by Amanda Levete, Grimshaw Architects, Dublin studio Heneghan Peng, French architect Marc Mimram and British engineering firms Flint & Neill and Price & Myers. Each has a track record in designing public structures. Flint & Neill is a bridge-design specialist, Heneghan Peng is the firm behind the Giant's Causeway Visitors' Centre in Northern Ireland and AL_A has just completed a project in Melbourne billed as Australia's answer to Britain's annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilion.

Entry 1

*

The first of the anonymously submitted proposals is a metal-framed bridge that underlines the city's industrial history. The team have taken their cues from its context, the materials, techniques and crafts of the city. It responds to the industrial heritage of the Newark Works arches, which are maintained and repurposed. It is inspired by Bath’s Georgian and Victorian engineering heritage, notably John Rennie’s Sydney Gardens bridge over the Kennet & Avon canal, with a slenderness produced by its interconnected layers. The team say the design is: “Generated by a structural moment diagram that has developed into something poetic and synthesises the exploitation of modern engineering with the heritage of the city.”

Entry 2

*

The second design is elegantly simple: a clean sweeping form that spans the River Avon and its riverside park to connect two new gateway plazas that serve as nodes in the development of Bath Quays. The curved alignment enables a smooth connection through the existing arches and onto the proposed thoroughfare to the west as well as a neat perpendicular interface with the new pedestrian/cyclist links to the north. The curved section, which is also the highest point of the deck, is concentrated near the supporting mast on the north bank where a continuous bench invites lingering and the full appreciation of the uninterrupted view. In this way the bridge acts as a destination as well as a means of connection.

Entry 3

*

This design uses steel reinforced precast granite slabs to form the deck. Following the principles of traditional cantilever stone staircase landing construction these interlock and form a continuous truss. The rigorously refined structure and minimised span result in an elegant and effortless structural expression. This design will also create opportunities for the integration of public art commissions: for example a quiet sound installation concealed within the benches or text carved into the stone shelves/handrails. The design of the public spaces at each side, meanwhile, is left simple and minimal to allow freedom for how the design of the adjacent developments evolve.

Entry 4

*

This design aims to accompany the transformation of the river Avon over the last 100 years and the city of Bath with a symbol that reflects the river's surrounding landscape, the qualities of its environment and the presence of its built history. The thin steel structure will be complemented by a stone deck composed of reinforced stone slabs, and the edges of the deck will be illuminated at night by a continuous beam of light integrated in the railings, enhancing the elongated lines of the structure. The designers themselves say: “As a balcony on the river Avon, sustainable through its enduring quality, the bridge will become a new symbol of Bath’s relationship with water.”

Entry 5

*

Planting trails from a timber pergola in the centre of the fifth design, which also features cable-mesh balustrades and a fanned seating arrangement that steps down to a path by the river's edge. The plans reveal a combination of timber supports that lend the structure a more rustic vibe than the competing designs. It's our favourite, which is why we've given it pride of place as the cover image of this very article!

Entry 6

*

The final entry is described by its designers as “A place to pause and watch the boats go by,” and has perforated metal balustrades and rusted coloured railings, which aim to create a link between the greenery of the bank and the industrial buildings that surround it. A stone surface sweeps onto and off the bridge, effectively embedding it in the landscape, and a series of responsive LED lights are planned that glow discreetly at night when sensors attached to the handrail recognise motion.

The six shortlisted designs for Bath Quay Bridge will be exhibited anonymously at the city's council-run One Stop Shop until 25 September

The six shortlisted designs for Bath Quays Bridge will be exhibited anonymously at the city's council-run One Stop Shop until 25 September and are also available to view online in more detail on the Bath & North East Somerset Council website (see the PDF files to the right of the page). The winning design will be selected by a Council jury and announced in November. We wish them all the best of luck!

Comments

More Leaders

*

Leaders

Inspiring Female Leaders: An Interview with RAPP CEO Gabrielle Ludzker

Gabrielle Ludzker is not just any CEO. The current head honcho at customer experience agency RAPP has spent her career breaking away from the traditional corporate CEO stereotype. and leads to inspire rule breakers. Gabby is an inspirational rule...

Posted by: Benjamin Hiorns
ad: Annual 2024 Now Open For Entries!