Featuring contributions from more than a hundred cities from the five continents, West 8 is exhibiting in the third edition of the Seoul Biennale Of Architecture And Urbanism 2021 , entitled “CROSSROADS Building the Resilient City”.
Looking at the world’s cities for the development of a more sustainable world, the exhibition is divided into five explorations of the theme.
BUILDING THE RESILIENT CITY: THE FLOATING BRIDGE PROTOTYPE
Rising sea levels and the increasing scarcity of space limit the flexibility of the city to cope with peaks and troughs of the water table.
Our office is developing a prototype for a floating bridge as a resilient approach to infrastructure: rising during periods of peak rainfall and lowering during periods of drought. The design uses recyclable, durable and bio-based materials to decrease the environmental impact, whilst being robust and reliable. Above all, the floating bridge design does not need heavy foundations and will not disturb the maritime ecology – it has a ‘zero footprint’ where existing landscapes will be untouched after removal.
Intended to be built using a modular system from prefabricated objects that can be easily transported and assembled on-site, the team envisioned three concepts from limitless configurations: including a sunken walkway to limit the visibility of the structure and provide visitors with eye-level views of the water, as well as integrating plantable parkland to increase biotope diversity. The Floating Bridge prototype on display is pedestrian and cyclist oriented, to encourage an active and healthy way of life.
West 8’s floating model of the prototype includes both 3D-Printed and Lazer cut elements and is on display within the ARCHITECTURE X INFRASTRUCTURE section in the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP Design Museum) in Seoul, South Korea. An international coordination, the water tank was designed by West 8 and built at location by Keum-sung Baek, the bridge model was designed, shipped, and assembled by the West 8 team.
The Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism was curated by Dominique Perrault, opened September 16th and runs until October 31, 2021.
More information: SBAU Website
