winner of london's nine elms bridge competition announced

bystrup + robin snell win london’s nine elms bridge competition
all images courtesy of bystrup architecture, design and engineering

a design team led by bystrup architecture design and engineering is on course to win the nine elms to pimlico bridge competition following a unanimous endorsement from the contest’s jury panel. if followed by wandsworth’s council, the recommendation would see the team named preferred bidder for the project and tasked with developing central london’s first car-free bridge designed specifically for both cyclists and pedestrians. the full team includes robin snell & partners, svend ole hansen ApS, aarsleff, ÅF lighting aecom, COWI engineering, and DP9.

the competition began earlier in 2015, attracting over 70 entries, before a shortlist of four candidates was announced in march. in receiving the jury’s unanimous recommendation the selected design team saw off competition from amanda levete, marks barfield, and hopkins architects.

the scheme will be central london’s first car-free bridge for cyclists and pedestrians

graham stirk, senior partner at rogers stirk harbour + partners and chair of the competition jury panel, said: ‘this was an extremely difficult choice between four excellent teams, but ultimately we felt that bysrup and their partners had the most compelling approach to the challenges posed in our brief. their strategy is elegant and simple, they aspire to celebrate the river and create a thing of real beauty which is what this bridge should be.’

‘their light touch approach to landing points is commendable and the exploration of lighting and textured surfaces to manage movement across the bridge is both interesting and inventive. they see the bridge as a sustainable transport link and piece of new public realm which should be attractive, fun and a pleasure to use.’

the unanimous recommendation saw off competition from amanda levete, marks barfield, and hopkins architects

‘we are delighted to have this fantastic opportunity to design a new, modern piece of infrastructure for london,’ commented erik bystrup, speaking on behalf of the team. ‘from the outset we wanted to design an elegant bridge that provided simple and uninhibited access for all, with minimal impact landings on each bank. we are very excited that this will be the first shared pedestrian and cycle bridge over the thames, adding to the rich history of london’s river crossings.’

the panel’s recommendation will be discussed later this week by wandsworth council’s finance and corporate resources committee. a final decision will be made by the council’s executive group on november 30, 2015.

the jury praised the ‘elegant and simple’ design