Architects Airat Khusnutdinov, Zhang Liheng from Russia, won the second place in the competition of SC2012 – Bridging Rivers, run by Spanish architectural magazine future arquitecturas. The competition called for innovative ideas of how to build a habitable bridge in two different sites: Chongqing (China) and Seville (Spain). Their proposal, Seville 24/7, created a retreat from the harsh sun of Andalucia, Spain and extend the street life to 24 hours of the day and 7 days of the week.
Designed by Ayrat Khusnutdinov & Zhang Liheng
People would come here to visit a children playground, library, grocery store, night club, eat tapas, meet friends, etc. Our proposal would manifest the vibrancy of civic life in the city: it would be a stage that exposes the most interesting thing – life. The sinuous surfaces of the bridge create waves which would invite people to sit on them and watch passersby. In this way, we propose spaces that would encourage different behavioral patterns – watch and be watched. As in the theory of human social interaction in physics particles with opposite charges attract each other and create a magnet – here these two patterns would create a magnet for people.
Designed by Ayrat Khusnutdinov & Zhang Liheng
The different characters of the bridge’s two layers reflect its wide appeal. The green layer above creates heaven from the noise in the city – a piece of nature in the city’s context. The thick layer of earth with grass and bushes on it would radiate freshness under it, providing a generous shadow for the layer under it. The cafes, shopping areas, and exhibition spaces inside this layer provide additional facets to the wide palette of activities of the project. The lower layer of the bridge is a bustling hub with nonstop street performances, street vendors, cafes and everything a public street of a modern city can offer.
The bridge is anchored by two major public hubs on both sides of the river. The building of the médiathèque is one of them, its cantilevering structure signals the presence of this public venue in the city. The existing building of the tobacco factory is the other anchor, we propose to renovate and reconfigure it, creating a generous ground level piazza and introducing a 450 seats auditorium into the building. Integrating the existing building into our program we create a mix of old and new urban fabrics, which is characteristic of this area where medieval and modern Seville meets.
functions diagram
