HNTB Engineering, 64North, Bionic Landscape Architecture, and Ned Kahn make up the winning design team for the crossing of Adobe Creek.
The weathering steel arch leans northward, counterposed to the deck, and incorporates a network of thin cables between.
The design team describes the structure as slender, structurally efficient and cost-effective, with excellent seismic performance. The plan is to erect it at a temporary location while foundation work is under way, then roll it into place with self-propelled modular transporters, reducing traffic disruption to a single night-time closure.
The city ran the six-month competition to solicit ideas from top architectural and engineering firms for a bridge that is envisaged as representing the identity of Palo Alto as well as providing connectivity from residential and commercial areas to the Baylands Nature Preserve and a regional network of bike trails.
Twenty firms from around the world had submitted their qualifications, along with their design intent and approach, to the city for consideration.
"Three remarkable designs, all with strong local team members, were presented to the design jury and the architectural review board,” said jury chairwoman Judith Wasserman. “Each proposal provided comprehensive design thinking, integrating key requirements of cost constraint, strong aesthetic and engineering form, and a sensitive approach to the Baylands. The winning design includes several amenities at the Baylands gateway, and shows a remarkable integration of form and expression, creating a safe landmark bridge for the use of cyclists and pedestrians, while also acknowledging that thousands of motorists will pass beneath this bridge every day."
The winning design will be presented to the Public Art Commission, Architectural Review Board, Parks and Recreation Commission and Planning and Transportation Commission this month. The design will then go before the city council for review and possible approval in February.
The other shortlisted teams were Endrestudio, OLIN, SBP and Biohabitats:
and Moffatt & Nichol, Steven Grover & Associates, Lutsko Associates, JIRI Strasky, Mark Thomas & Co:
