The Four Designs for the 11th Street Bridge Park

• September 11th 2014

by UrbanTurf Staff

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On Thursday, the renderings and descriptions were released that the final four teams have put together for the highly-anticipated 11th Street Bridge Park.

Plans have been in the works for over a year to turn three concrete piers into one elevated park connecting Anacostia and Navy Yard. The goal of the project is to create a connecting design with an appeal similar to that of the Providence River Bridge park in Rhode Island.

A total of 41 design proposals came in for the park, and a committee narrowed those down to six back in April. In May, those six were narrowed down to a final four. Below are the designs from each team. UrbanTurf will descriptions of the designs later in the day.

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Bridge Park — Balmori Associates/Cooper, Robertson & Partners/Guy Nordenson Associates

The proposal from Balmori Associates and Cooper Robertson consists of three concepts:

• The Thread, which is the idea that the bridge will enter Ward 6 and Ward 8 and connect Martin Luther King Avenue in Anacostia with 8th Street on Capitol Hill.
• The Walk, which is described as follows: “The Walk” that so many Washingtonians will take across the Anacostia River is confident, strong, and true. These traits are represented in a series of graceful arches that take their strides with a side-to-side swagger. The structure allows for the design of a suspended deck giving freedom to the overall shape, program, and topography of Bridge Park and permits the deck edge to be varied, thin, and elegant.
• The Clasp, which is located at the center of the bridge and will be an events space.

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Anacostia Crossing — OLIN/OMA/Arup

The team of OLIN, OMA and Arup has created “a series of outdoor programmed spaces and active zones that will provide an engaging place hovering above, yet anchored in, the Anacostia River.”

Among those programmed spaces are an amphitheater, an environmental education center, a sculpture garden and a boat launch.

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The Crossing — Stoss Landscape Urbanism/Howeler + Yoon Architecture/Robert Silman Associates

The Crossing consists of walkways and park spaces across the river with space for at least one structure that would serve as an environmental education center.

Here is how the team of Stoss Landscape Urbanism and Howeler and Yoon describes “The Crossing”:

Our proposal for the 11th Street Bridge Park puts in place a new crossing, one that establishes new connections across and to the Anacostia River and to the burgeoning and socially/culturally rich neighborhoods along its banks.

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Anacostia Landing — Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT) /NEXT Architects/Magnusson Klemencic Associates

Anacostia Landing would be a 25-acre park with four distinct recreation zones, the centerpiece of which would be the River Balcony:

The River Balcony stands as a singular element, seemingly floating in space and attached to the 11th Street Bridge by three narrow points of connection. Perched 30 feet above the river, the balcony contains a children’s play garden, a skim pool, a stepped amphitheater, and a three-story community and education center.

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The winning team among the four finalists will be announced in October. Over the next month, the public will be invited to review the designs and share feedback. Those that view the designs can take a short survey that will be shared with the Competition Jury as they select the final winning design. The four design concepts will be exhibited at the following venues across the city:

On view from September 14 – October 11, 2014 — THEARC Gallery – 1901 Mississippi Ave. SE, Washington, DC

On view from September 24 – October 11, 2014 at: Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum – 1901 Fort Place SE, Washington, DC and District Architecture Center – 421 7th Street NW, Washington, DC

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/the_four_designs_for_11th_street_bridge_park/8955.