Bridging the gap

In these modern times of motorised transportation, bridges are mere tools for getting from A to B as quickly as possible. However, there was a time when many bridges London Bridge, certainly were centres of commerce in their own right. In celebration of the 800th anniversary of the opening of the first London Bridge, the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects held a competition for the design of an inhabited bridge concept to be adapted from the existing bridge.

Designed by Laurie Chetwood of Chetwoods Architects, the winning concept proposes a vertical farm that would supply a market on the bridge itself and use the river to transport produce to other parts of the city.

"The vertical farm rises above the southern buttress as well as stretching up and down the river on a series of piers which connect to floating fields. The farm is supplied by a borehole which connects into the London Aquifer," says Chetwood. "The northern buttress structure includes shops and restaurants, which use the produce from the farm, and surround a public market which will sell the organically grown produce."

Rising above the farm is a wind turbine and a series of photovoltaic panels for energy production, and a vertical axis turbine for ventilation. Rainwater harvesting will supply water for the hydroponic landscape and WCs.

Story by: Trendsideas