olympic bridge
lifted up into the air after the olympic games,
revealing the green lea river basin below,
the giant disc with colour glass is a symbol of the global community,
and a gathering place for the local community
A bridge takes you from one place to another, and has an above and a below. Typically, the above is light, and the below, dark. Stories unfold. What is below the bridge? Over the Carpenter’s Lock sits a disc made of rolled steel plates and coloured glass lenses. It is a temporary bridge for the London Olympics. The experience of crossing the bridge is heightened by the passage of light, colour, rain and people.
The disc is lifted up into the air in the post-Olympics Legacy Park, to reveal the historic lock below. Inside the green basin people bask in the luminous dappled light of the Olympic colours. The bridge becomes a sign and a gathering place for the local community, retaining the memory of the global community that crossed over it during the 2012 Olympic Games.
client olympic delivery authority
location london, uk
status 2007
structural engineer atelier one
sustainability bdp sustainability
landscape grant associates
budget £7 million
span 78 m