The Garden Bridge was chosen by Transport for London as the winning proposal for a new Thames-spanning walkway. Image: Heatherwick Studio
Thomas Heatherwick is one of Britain’s most celebrated designers. A few years back, his studio dreamed up a new version of London’s iconic double-decker bus; last year, he was responsible for the magnificent 200-piece cauldron at the London Olympic games. His studio’s latest project is, in a sense, two projects. It’s a public park, and a prominent pedestrian bridge.
The Garden Bridge, as it’s currently being called, was selected by Transport for London as the winning design for a new walkway that will span the Thames between Temple and the South Bank. Heatherwick put it plainly when the concept was unveiled earlier this summer: “The idea is simple; to connect north and south London with a garden.”
It’s the rare bridge that encourages meandering. Image: Studio Heatherwick
And at least as currently imagined, they’re not planning on skimping with the garden. The proposal calls for trees, grasses, wildflowers and other native plants, with a middle section wide enough to completely ensconce visitors in a tunnel of flora. Elevated outposts on the edges of the bridge will give pedestrians an unusually fragrant place to view the bustling city (and, presumably, a place to laugh at all the people who aren’t standing in a beautiful, sweet-smelling garden.)
Joanna Lumley, a well-known British actress, has been a proponent of the idea for years. “This garden will be sensational in every way,” she says, “a place with no noise or traffic where the only sounds will be birdsong and bees buzzing and the wind in the trees, and below the steady rush of water…there will be blossom in the spring and even a Christmas tree in mid-winter. I believe it will bring to Londoners and visitors alike peace and beauty and magic.”
But as universally enjoyable as a bonus parcel of plant life may be, the idea is, in some ways, a little bit subversive. We generally except bridges to take us from one side of a thing to the other as quickly and directly as possible. Typically, they adhere to the implicit aim of all infrastructure: to be as efficient as possible. And while its gently curving paths aren’t exactly a hedge maze, the Garden Bridge does encourage you, by design, to meander.
Of course for Lumley, that’s part of the appeal. As she proudly notes: “It will be the slowest way to cross the river.”
How could you resist stopping to laugh at all the poor souls who aren’t on a fragrant flower-packed platform? Image: Studio Heatherwick
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