After a succession of design modifications, OMA/Jason Long’s 11th Street Bridge Park has passed new important milestones in its design and fundraising campaign. The design team has upgraded the programme areas around the bridge park and relocated the amphitheatre and primary gathering space, increasing the amphitheatre’s capacity to 250 people. The finishes and landscape designs have been improved, but the pedestrian paths, terraces, centres, and public plazas have not been changed.
Updated renderings for 11th Street Bridge Park, an elevated garden that will extend across Washington, DC’s Anacostia River, have been unveiled by architecture company OMA and landscape studio Olin. The announcement comes after the National Capital Planning Commission approved the plan to build a park across the Anacostia River in Washington, DC earlier this month. “At a time when we are paradoxically isolated from one another but united in a common cause, public spaces that we all share and that benefit health have become more important than ever. Our work has focused on creating a new civic space that engages with the Anacostia River and refining the programme for the park to ensure it will be a place for everyone in DC.” said OMA partner Jason Long.
New renderings of 11th Street Bridge Park featuring multiple green spaces and mixed-use buildings have been unveiled by OMA and Olin, who won a competition to revamp the area in 2014. The project’s intermediate design is nearly completed, and it is slated to go into the final construction phase this fall. Through the continuous support of funders and Washington, D.C.’s new 2022 budget, which is expected to finance the project for the following five years, the team has also secured 85% of the $139 million overall project budget. In 2014, the jury for the 11th Street Bridge Park competition in Washington, D.C. unanimously chose OMA + OLIN’s design to transform the ageing freeway structure over the Anacostia River into an elevated park and new public space for the city. The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) gave the project its clearance in early April 2020. Their winning design raises the bridge’s ends to form an X, allowing for activities like a performance space and a café, as well as plenty of open areas for plazas, lawns, and urban agricultural plots.
The 11th Street Bridge Park will be built on a collection of piers that once supported a river bridge. It will be made up of a split-level structure that will come together in the middle to form a cross. Gardens and lookout spots will be connected by a system of pathways on the two top floors, which will be elevated by trusses. They will also lead to the lower level, which will have more green space, plazas, and a cafe. Pedestrians will be able to enter the elevated park via ramps and trails built along either riverside. The 11th Street Bridge Park will be surrounded by a roadway that will follow the length of the river. The terrain is dotted with colourful seats and hammocks, as well as play equipment such as slides constructed into a tiny hill and a waterfall. On one side of the design, a small performance stage is attached to the underside of the bridge. The raised part of the bridge on the opposite side creates a roof for a cafe and patio area. A third triangular structure on the property can be used for public events.
“This project will be the first public space in the nation’s capital that will make a bridge a destination – a park above the river – where access to green spaces can significantly encourage physical activity while building social capital,” OMA said.
References:
- OMA / Jason Long Reveals New Images of 11th Street Bridge Park in Washington D.C. Available at https://www.archdaily.com/969380/oma-jason-long-reveals-new-images-of-11th-street-bridge-park-in-washington-dc?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ArchDaily+%28ArchDaily%29
- Kristine Klein. OMA reveals updated design for Washington DC garden bridge. Available at https://www.dezeen.com/2020/04/23/11th-street-bridge-park-oma-olin-washington-dc/
