BRIDGES IN SEQUENCE

1 PROJECT - 23 BRIDGES

Heishi River is located in Sichuan Province, Southern China, west from the province capital Chengdu; part of its course is going to be transformed in a linear park spreading on both banks of the river, requiring to build a series of bridges to connect them.

Peculiarity of this part of the river are its complex context and sorroundings: in a few kilometers it goes from a more natural ladscape, to cross part of the city, and eventually it spreads thorugh a series of rural villages. The general strategy on how to design 23 bridges along the Heishi river park starts form this peculiarity.

The linearity of the park leads to think of its entire lenght as a slow journey through three different contexts (natural, urban and rural), and therefore the bridges to be part of it: each one needs to be different, integrated with its sorrounding context, and harmonize with other close bridges. This approach brings to conceive the bridges as a sequence, a succession of elements following a general, varying rythm all along the park.

The general strategy starts identifying a series of “features” embodying diffrent types of variations themselves: threshold, space and time, direction, connectivity, nature, water, reflection, view, inside and outside. Each of these features is developed and applied depending on what the context requires: natural context inspires slower flows and a wide view towards the landscape, while the urban context suggests multiple and faster flows emphasizing a direct connection, etc. This allows to visualize how features develope and vary through the whole lenght of the park, and permits to assign each of them to every single bridge and to every unique particular position in which they will be built.

This approach brings with it a common, general concept, based on these features and their punctual development, making possible in the future to design each bridge separately, while keeping the all sequence coherent with itself and its parts.

Eventually some bridges placed in key-positions are designed, starting from this concept as examples of application of all the features.