Holzgartensteg Regensburg
Infrastructure · Regensburg, Germany · EU-wide Competition · Joint 1st Prize · 2020
Architecture
SUPERARCHITEKTUR
Ana Očić · Martin Brischnik
Structural Engineering
Zoran Novacki
Landscape Architecture
freiland Umweltconsulting ZT GmbH
Client
City of Regensburg
Year
2019–2020
Status
Competition project
A bridge that takes up less space than it creates.
The Holzgartensteg was conceived not simply as a missing link in Regensburg’s pedestrian and cycling network, but as a piece of public space.
The two banks of the River Regen could hardly be more different. Maria-Beer-Platz is urban and active; Grieser Spitz is green, informal and used for everything from football to sitting by the water. The bridge had to connect the two without turning either into something else.
So we started with what was already there.
At Grieser Spitz, the bridge follows the existing path as closely as possible, preserving the trees and keeping the natural riverbank largely untouched. The ramps become part of the landscape, with places to sit, watch a game or look towards the water.
On the opposite bank, Maria-Beer-Platz is extended towards the river. Steps connect the square, the riverside path and the bridge, turning what would normally be an infrastructure junction into a small piece of urban landscape.
Between the two, the bridge makes an S.
The curve is not a gesture added afterwards. It organises movement, responds to the different conditions of both banks and becomes part of the structural system itself.
The deck is suspended asymmetrically from two inclined pylons. The suspension changes side at the centre of the bridge, while the torsionally rigid steel box girder stabilises the curved deck. Structure and geometry work together: the bridge can remain slender precisely because its form is doing part of the work.
A bridge, ideally, should connect two sides.
This one tried to do a little more: connect movement with staying, city with landscape, and infrastructure with public life.
Competition
The project received one of three equal-ranked first prizes in the first stage of the two-stage competition and was invited to develop the design further.
The revised proposal was completed and submitted, but never opened.
Then politics intervened.
Following the 2020 municipal elections, the political framework around the project changed. The City of Regensburg suspended the Holzgartensteg and removed it from its investment programme. The three revised final submissions were returned to the teams together with the prize money and compensation for the completed second-stage work.
As a result, no project was selected for construction.
Sometimes a competition ends with a building.
This one ended with three unopened envelopes.