Helsinki announces a design competition on bridges for a heritage site

Friday, 27 May, 2011 - 10:57

The Finnish capital Helsinki is undergoing the busiest phase of development in the city’s history. Whole new districts are emerging in sites vacated from harbours and other industrial uses.

As a key part of the development, the City of Helsinki envisions landmark bridges – Kruunusillat (“crown bridges”) – for trams, cyclists and pedestrians. These bridges will connect a new maritime residential district with the inner city. The City invites the best architectural and engineering experts from all around the world for the task.

The bridge development complies with Helsinki’s strategic goal to promote sustainable modes of transport. The city’s strategic emphases are on rail transport and improved public transport service.

The maritime site of the new bridges is classified as one of Finland’s 27 heritage sites. With the international bridge design competition, Helsinki looks for a design that co-exists in harmony with the landscape and respects the history and cultural significance of the site. The bridges should be part of Helsinki’s heritage to future generations.

The vicinity of the bridges includes many nationally valuable cultural landmarks, most importantly the Suomenlinna (Sveaborg) sea fortress from the 1750’s, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The City of Helsinki invites teams with a broad range of competence to participate in the bridge design competition. The teams should possess expertise in bridge design and engineering, aesthetically high-quality structural design and architecture, landscape architecture, geotechnics, street and traffic planning, bridge cost estimation, environmental impact assessment, and life cycle cost analysis.

Applications to participate in the competition are accepted from May 27th to August 3rd, 2011.

Helsinki is World Design Capital 2012

Helsinki is designated as World Design Capital 2012. The theme for the Design Capital year is Open Helsinki - Embedding Design in Life. The bridge design competition is an excellent example of the theme: call for applications to design new ways of transportation. The competition is part of the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 programme.
 
More on the competition at www.kruunusillat.fi
World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 at www.wdc2012helsinki.fi

Kruunusillat International Design Competition 27.5.2011
More about the Kruunuvuorenranta
Facebook
Twitter
 

Thursday, 10 May, 2012 - 07:46

The City of Helsinki is holding an open international architectural competition entitled “The Heart of the Metropolis” for the new Central Library. The competition has attracted much global attention. More than 530 competition entries were submitted.

Monday, 7 May, 2012 - 11:08

What kind of Helsinki would be a good hometown to a resident? What do business enterprises expect from Helsinki? How to improve services and enhance welfare and develop enjoyable city life and participation?

Monday, 7 May, 2012 - 10:56

A closer feel of Helsinki’s new residential and workplace areas can be obtained at Virka Galleria in City Hall where a lit scale model of Helsinki is on display. 3D scale models of the future developments of Kalasatama, Keski-Pasila, Jätkäsaari and Hernesaari have been planted on the aerial photo.