Sinotech Engineering Consultants and German firm Leonhardt, Andra und Partner have won an international design competition to build the Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) over the Tamsui River (淡水河) in New Taipei City with a design by Zaha Hadid Architects, the Directorate-General of Highways said yesterday.
A 15-member review committee, including experts in engineering and local history, reviewed designs submitted by architecture firms from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Denmark and the US and selected the winner on Wednesday.
The winning design features an asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge with a single pylon, the directorate said.
Photo courtesy of the Directorate-General of Highways
It was designed by famed Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid, who in 2004 became the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize, which was established in 1979.
Some of her designs, known for pushing the boundaries of architecture and urban design, have proved controversial, such as for the one for the Tokyo Olympic Stadium for the 2020 Games.
The other teams in the competition had focused on double-pylon bridges, with a pylon on the west side that was likely to block the view of the sunset over the river, a major attraction for visitors and residents of Tamsui District (淡水), the directorate said.
Photo courtesy of the Directorate-General of Highways
Because the piers in the winning design would be on the east side of the river, the design would not only reduce the environmental impact on the Watziwei Nature Conservation Area (挖子尾自然保護區) in Bali District (八里) on the west side of the river, but it would allow visitors to see the sunset year-round between the pylon and the Guanyinshan (觀音山), the agency said.
Sinotech president Kung Chen-shan (龔誠山) said the winning design was inspired by a visit to Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s (雲門舞集) new home in Tamsui.
The 900m-long bridge is like a dancer jumping upward, while the pylon in the middle of the bridge are like the praying hands of the dancer, he said, adding that the lighting of the bridge was designed to reduce its impact on the boats and fish.
Photo courtesy of the Directorate-General of Highways
The cable-stayed portion of the bridge is to be 450m long, which would make it the world’s longest single-pylon cable-stayed bridge and a New Taipei City landmark, the directorate said.
The bridge is to connect Tamsui and Bali, reducing travel distance between the two districts by 15km, with four traffic lanes, a pedestrian walkway, a bike lane and an 8m-width reserved for a light-rail system track.
It is scheduled to be completed by 2020.
The bridge will be Leonhardt, Andra und Partner’s first public infrastructure project in this nation.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS