The recent unveiling of the 74 entrances to the Nine Elms to Pimlico bridge competition was undoubtedly intended to cause a media circus, hoping to emulate the fury that surrounded the much greater competition Guggenheim Helsinki when they released all 1,715 of their entries on the Web in October of last year. The contest asked designers to offer "one of the most expressive and monuments visible in London," is the latest in a series of dramatic changes that take place on this stretch of the south bank of the Thames. This new community, one of the most prestigious new neighborhoods of London, includes a new US embassy Keiran Timberlake and many residential developments, culminating in the highly-touted renovation of Battersea Power Station, with accompanying buildings by Foster + Partners and Frank Gehry, and a public space by BIG.
the first reactions to the competition entries was mixed at best. The Guardian architecture critic Oliver Wainwright "had the opportunity to make fun light to a selection of models, using his considerable powers of word games to copy entries with titles such as The Funhouse greenhouse The Spaffy Tangle Razorwire Party Bridge and The Flaming Mouth of Hades . Similarly, metric City ran the news with an article entitled "The 12 most ridiculous models for New Battersea Bridge", sparking a debate on Reddit in which branded user projects "various degrees of crazy "and" ridiculous doodles. "But beyond all that jovial insults, these designs are symptomatic of an unhealthy approach to wealth that London seems unable (or perhaps unwilling) to cope.
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These entries produce a creeping sense of déjà vu. Here we have 74 often wacky ideas for a new pedestrian bridge of the brand, connecting two of the richest regions London, for the express purpose of becoming a new landmark for London as Wainwright points out, Wandsworth Council seems barely to avoid using the word "iconic", although it is undoubtedly what they are after. All this has the same bitter taste as "tiara on the head of our fabulous city," the Garden Bridge - a postcard of a project designed by Heatherwick Studio was whisked through three levels of approval of more planning faster than you can say "Boris Johnson legacy Mayoral," despite being criticized by seemingly everyone who was not involved in the commissioning, design or approve.
to be clear, although the Nine Elms bridge carries some similarities to the Garden bridge, it is a few steps removed . forest madness in terms of sheer audacity While the Garden bridge reaches a bill eye-watering £ 175 million, Nine Elms is estimated at a much more palatable £ 40 million; while the first is just 300 meters from an adjacent level crossing, it is a fairly large distance from the nearest adequate pedestrian bridge; then we will force cyclists to dismount to cross, the other came with a specific requirement for a bike path; and where the funding of the Garden Bridge include £ 30 million each Treasury and Transport for London, Nine Elms bridge not require public funds despite being spearheaded by the Wandsworth Council (money instead of just 26 £ million in community infrastructure levies paid by developers of the surrounding buildings, with the remaining £ 14 million from private sponsorship).
Despite all this, the crossing Nine Elms is not cheap. For comparison Millennium Bridge of Foster + Partners, a truly innovative design with the requirements of length, height and similar scope, cost £ 23.2 million, including the budget overrun of 45% required to correct the sway bridge - even adjusted for inflation this corresponds to just over £ 35 million. While it is easy to make fun of the architects who participated in the competition, the bizarre results are more likely the result of a large project budget and the provocation of Wandsworth Council for a bridge that is not only a "distinctive gateway" but also "innovative and memorable ... challenge previous interpretations of the bridge design." There is even a clause in the memorandum that would allow designs that are "substantially" the budget be accepted providing the design offered "a compelling story to justify additional spending." Undoubtedly, all this effort is to strengthen property values already incredibly high new developments Nine Elms to attract the market of super-rich investors that the London property market seems increasingly target .
All this will be difficult to digest for people who live on the other side of town - places to East of Tower bridge as Greenwich where the nearest bridge, pedestrian or otherwise, is about four miles away and tunnels and ferries nearby are just not up to par. To see such an extravagantly expensive bridge unveiled for one of the most ostentatiously wealthy of London (studios at Battersea Power Station starting at £ 495 000), while a trap whimsical but useless tourists as the Garden bridge receives £ 60 million in public money, is sure to be the question why it has proved so difficult to scrape together the money for even more functional bridges in their district.
The simple answer to this is that a new bridge in East London is not a populist project of the High Level London mayor considers worthy of public expenditure, it can be supported by community infrastructure levy powered astronomical property values in other parts of London. the city workers and tourists to save public money, and the newly formed communities including foreign investors buy-to-leave are entitled to benefit private developers. But if you are a humble resident of a preexisting community, you can forget completely infrastructure spending.
the Garden bridge already seems likely to become a symbol of this fault in urban planning in London and bridge Nine Elms is just a bad decision to follow in his footsteps. For now, all we can hope is that Graham Stirk and his fellow judges have the good sense to choose a more demure entries in the competition -. So that, at least this inequality is not quite in your face
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