September 25, 1996. Copyright, 1995, Graphic News. All rights reserved

NEW LIVING BRIDGE FOR LONDON 
By Julie Mullins

LONDON, September 25, Graphic News- Londoners and visitors to the capital are being invited to choose a design for a new habitable bridge over the Thames. In a competition organised by the Royal Academy of Art, and supported by Thames Water, seven internationally renowned architects were asked to submit proposals and of these, two have been selected as joint winners. British architect Zaha HadidÕs bridge is a cantilevered structure of steel and glass with accommodation at either end and open in the middle to allow for views, while Antoine Grumbach, of France, proposes a ÔGardenÕ bridge, with an arcade of shops and cafe spaces between twin towers on the north bank and a glass palace on the south. All seven designs are on display as part of the Royal AcademyÕs remarkable exhibition, Living Bridges, which runs until December 18.
The exhibition features a series of model bridges constructed over a realistically murky-looking river flowing throughout the galleries. It tells the story of the inhabited bridge from Old London Bridge, complete with shops, houses and severed heads of traitors, to existing bridges such as the Ponte Vecchio and Pulteney Bridge in Bath, BritainÕs last inhabited bridge, built in 1770, and comes up to date with 21st century projects for Rome, Salzburg and Dubai. Among the more fantastic bridges are those which, inevitably, never left the drawing board, including Sir John SoaneÕs idea for a triumphal crossing of the Thames and an extraordinary 1925 vision for a multi-story car park, supported by giant caryatids, across the Seine. 
The proposed site of LondonÕs new bridge is from Temple Gardens to the area in front of the London Television Centre on the South Bank. Visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to vote for their favourite design and the publicÕs choice will be announced on December 9. Developers are already expressing interest in constructing the new bridge, which would be self-financing and could be complete by the turn of the century.

Source: Royal Academy of Art