Artist-engineer Thomas Heatherwick’s “Garden Bridge” proposal is open for public feedback in the UK. A heavily forested pathway stretching across the Thames, Heatherwick’s bridge would be the second pedestrian-only bridge constructed in London in less than two decades, succeeding Norman Foster’s initially infamous — but now enormously popular — Millennium Bridge, built back in 2000.
The Garden Bridge, a collaborative design by Heatherwick Studio, Dan Pearson Studio, and Arup, “will add to London’s rich and diverse horticultural heritage of heathlands, parks, squares, allotments and community gardens and support many indigenous river edge plant species.”
It’s a kind of deliberate crypto–forest — a pop-up landscape in the middle of a river — an artificial woodland that tourists and local bankers on their lunch break can get lost within.
Say what you want about architects putting trees on everything these days, but it actually looks like an interesting — and much-needed — organic addition to a city rapidly transforming into a maze of reflective steel and glass surfaces. We need some druidry with all that metal! All that concrete needs some jungle!
There are multiple public hearings coming up for those of you in London who either want to learn more about the proposal or have something, positive or negative, to say about it. These hearings will be on November 15 and 16, and again on November 21 and 23; but public input will be accepted until December 20. [Studio-X NYC]
