Artist impressions have been released for the slated Garden Bridge
in London, a Thomas Heatherwick design that will connect Temple
station with the South Bank.
The design has been put forward for a public consultation this
week, which will run until 20 December. It was also announced on 1
November that The Garden Bridge Trust has been setup to push
forward the creation of the bridge, a haven of green rising 367m
above the Thames that will be opened in 2017, all going
well.
Heatherwick had told Wired the inspiration for the bridge came from an
idea by actress Joanna Lumley to connect north and south with a new
kind of garden, but also from New York’s now infamous High Line and
the sense it gives pedestrians of feeling “like you’re in a dream”.
That creation made use of a former railway line hovering over
Manhattan, but the Garden Bridge will be a new pedestrian walkway
travelling east of Waterloo bridge to connect an area of relative
underuse in Temple, to the South Bank’s hustle. It will also mirror
one of the best bridge views in London — from Waterloo Bridge one
side takes in the Houses of Parliament, the other the City, while
Somerset House looms ahead. The Garden Bridge, however, will give a
far better pedestrian experience than the multi-lane concrete grey
of its predecessor.
“How do you make people feel slow, and be in an intimate point,
even though it’s a major piece of infrastructure?” said Heatherwick
of the design in the October 2013 issue of Wired. “For
every object in the world, how you feel is part of its
function.”
The bridge will be designed under the eye of engineering firm
Arup and will feature two piers at its ends. It will be covered in
benches, a promenade and indigenous plants in a landscaped wild
garden designed by Dan
Pearson.
“There will be grasses, trees, wild flowers, and plants, unique
to London’s natural riverside habitat,” Joanna Lumley commented. “I
believe it will bring to Londoners and visitors alike peace and
beauty and magic.”
The bridge, something the trust’s chair Lord Mervyn Davies has
referred to as a new icon for the city, is slated to cost £150m,
which is being raised by donations. Following the public
consultation ground will break in 2015.
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