Bridge Design Competition

Update 20 June, 2013: The winning design is Gemma Regalis.
Second Unda Arctica.

From http://www.kruunusillat.fi/news

World’s best bridge designers building bridges for Helsinki

20.02.2013 15:42

The eleven entries for the international bridge design competition Kruunusillat (Crown Bridges) 

are on display and available for public comment at an exhibition in Helsinki and on the Internet. 

The jury will select the winner during spring 2013.

Helsinki launched the competition in 2011 by inviting the participation of multi-field teams from 

around the world. More than fifty teams applied and ten were selected for the actual competition 

phase.

If implemented, the bridge connection for trams and pedestrians and cyclists would be the 

longest in Finland, at approximately three kilometres. The connection, composed of two or more 

bridges, would link the future maritime Kruunuvuorenranta district to Helsinki city centre.

Helsinki seeks to promote sustainable methods, such as rail traffic, and simultaneously to 

improve the service level of public transport. The bridge alternative contributes to achieving 

these goals.

Maritime Helsinki is classified as one of Finland’s 27 national landscapes. For this extremely 

demanding environment, with its important landscape and cultural-historical values, the 

international bridge competition aims at finding the best solution, worthy of being left as a 

heritage for future generations.

There are numerous nationally valuable cultural environments in the vicinity of the bridges, the 

most important of which include the Suomenlinna sea fortress complex dating from the 1750s, a 

UNESCO World Heritage site.

See the competition works on the Internet

The competition is a part of the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 programme.

The competition entries were submitted under pseudonyms. The team with the pseudonym is 

only revealed when the winner is selected.

BACKGROUND

Around 50 international teams from all over the world applied for the international Kruunusillat 

bridge design competition. The applicants were from Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech 

Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Russia, 

Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. The competition is part of 

the design capital programme.

Ten teams are participating in the competition. The teams are led by the following companies 

(in alphabetical order):

Apia XXI S.A., Spain

Head designer, bridge design: Oscar Ramon Ramos Gutierrez 

Head architect: Joan Roig i Duran

Arup, the Netherlands

Head designer, bridge design: Sander den Blanken

Head architect: Ben van Berkel

Carlos Fernández Casado, S.L., Spain

Head designer, bridge design: Javier Muñoz-Rojas

Head architect: Javier Manterola

Pontek Consulting Engineers Ltd, Finland

Head designer, bridge design: Juhani Hyvönen 

Head architect: Hanna Hyvönen

Knippers Helbig GmbH, Germany

Head designer, bridge design: Thorsten Helbig

Head architect: Rob Torsing (Partner/Architect - Zwarts & Jansma Architects)

Ove Arup & Partners International Ltd, United Kingdom

Head designer, bridge design: Ed Clark

Head architect: Amanda Levete

Roughan & O'Donovan, Ireland

Head designer, bridge design: Tony Dempsey

Head architect: Bruno Dumetier

Schüssler-Plan Ingenieurgesellschaft Berlin, Germany

Head designer, bridge design: Wolfgang Strobl

Head architect: Dietmar Feichtinger

Setec tpi, France

Head designer, bridge design: Jean-Bernard Datry

Head architect: Jean François Blassel

WSP Finland, Finland

Head designer, bridge design: Pekka Pulkkinen 

Head architect: Martin Knight

This is my favourite design, Unda Arctica:

06: Unda Arctica
.

Youtube video for Unda Arctica:

And here's the rest of field (the other ten finalists):

(see the videos here)

#01: Ventus
.

#02: Nexu
.

#03: Debet Semper Plus Esse Virium In Vectores Quam In Onere
.

#04: Hyperborea
.

#05: Filum Lucis
.

#07: Occursus
.

#08: Septem Fratres
.

#09: Gemma Regalis
.

#10: Recreatio Maritimus
.

#11: Oculus
.