OMA + OLIN Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park
16/10/2014.
[Washington DC] USA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
After a seven month nationwide design competition, the jury for Washington D.C.‘s 11th Street Bridge Park has announced OMA + OLIN as the selected design team. The 11th Street Bridge Park, DC’s first elevated park over the Anacostia River! See their innovative designs below for this new civic space.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
Design Selected for the 11th Street Bridge Park. Image © OMA + OLIN. Courtesy of 11th Street Bridge Park.
With their dynamic intersecting structure, OMA + OLIN saw off competition from three other teams composed of: Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT), NEXT Architects and Magnusson Klemencic Associates; Stoss Landscape Urbanism and Höweler + Yoon Architecture; and Balmori Associates and Cooper, Robertson & Partners.
Partner at OLIN Hallie Boyce commented, “The 11th Street Bridge Park project is an incredible opportunity to contribute to the civic fabric of Washington, D.C. through the design of an iconic, multi-functional landscape which promotes the health of the river and its adjacent communities acting as a model both nationally and globally.”
The design of the bridge pulls the two ends of the bridge upward to form an X-shape, providing shelter for programs such as a performance space and a cafe, as well as plenty of open space for plazas, lawns and urban agriculture plots. This manipulation of the form also turns the thoroughfare into a destination all of its own above the river.
“Our design creates a literal intersection and a dynamic, multi-layered amenity for both sides of the river,” explained OMA Partner-in-Charge Jason Long. “It simultaneously functions as a gateway to both sides of the river, a lookout point with expansive views, a canopy that can shelter programs and a public plaza where the two paths meet. The resulting form of the bridge creates an iconic encounter, an “X” instantly recognizable within the capital’s tradition of civic spaces.”
In addition to being unanimously selected by the jury, OMA + OLIN’s deign was awarded the highest marks from the competition’s “Design Oversight Committee,” composed of local stakeholders, and also received the most votes in a public opinion poll of the four submitted designs.
“The OMA + OLIN concept is simply brilliant in the way they captured ideas we heard from residents on both sides of the river and from across the city” said 11th Street Bridge Park Director Scott Kratz. “These thoughtful designers – some of the best architects and landscape architects in the world – have taken community driven ideas and created a compelling new space that will connect two historically divided parts of the city while adding a new shape to the capital’s iconic monuments.”
Organized by the Washington D.C. Government in collaboration with a local non-profit, “Building Bridges Across the River at THEARC,” the focus for the 11th Street Bridge Park will now be on securing funding for the project. A $1 million campaign from public and private donors has thus far been met with an additional $14.5 million from the D.C Government. With the selection of a final design, a capital campaign has been launched to match these funds.
More information
OMA. Office for Metropolitan Architecture
Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international practice operating within the traditional boundaries of architecture and urbanism. AMO, a research and design studio, applies architectural thinking to domains beyond. OMA is led by eight partners – Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, Chris van Duijn, Jason Long, and Managing Partner-Architect David Gianotten – and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia. OMA-designed buildings currently under construction are the renovation of Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin, The Factory in Manchester, Hangzhou Prism, the CMG Times Center in Shenzhen and the Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux.
OMA’s completed projects include Taipei Performing Arts Centre (2022), Audrey Irmas Pavilion in Los Angeles (2020), Norra Tornen in Stockholm (2020), Axel Springer Campus in Berlin (2020), MEETT Toulouse Exhibition and Convention Centre (2020), Galleria in Gwanggyo (2020), WA Museum Boola Bardip (2020), nhow RAI Hotel in Amsterdam (2020), a new building for Brighton College (2020), and Potato Head Studios in Bali (2020). Earlier buildings include Fondazione Prada in Milan (2018), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), De Rotterdam (2013), CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (2012), Casa da Música in Porto (2005), and the Seattle Central Library (2004).
AMO often works in parallel with OMA's clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence from this array of disciplines. This is the case with Prada: AMO's research into identity, in-store technology, and new possibilities of content-production in fashion helped generate OMA's architectural designs for new Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, AMO was commissioned by the European Union to study its visual communication, and designed a colored "barcode" flag, combining the flags of all member states, which was used during the Austrian presidency of the EU. AMO has worked with Universal Studios, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Heineken, Ikea, Condé Nast, Harvard University and the Hermitage. It has produced Countryside: The Future, a research exhibited at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; exhibitions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, including Public Works (2012), Cronocaos (2010), and The Gulf (2006); and for Fondazione Prada, including When Attitudes Become Form (2012) and Serial and Portable Classics (2015). AMO, with Harvard University, was responsible for the research and curation of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale and its publication Elements. Other notable projects are Roadmap 2050, a plan for a Europe-wide renewable energy grid; Project Japan, a 720-page book on the Metabolism architecture movement (Taschen, 2010); and the educational program of Strelka Institute in Moscow.
Jason Long
Jason Long (OMA partner / OMA NY co-director) Jason Long is a Partner at OMA. He joined the firm in 2003 and has been leading OMA New York since 2014. Jason brings a research-driven, interdisciplinary approach to a wide range of projects internationally—from concept to completion, he served as the project manager for the Quebec National Museum in Quebec City and the Faena Forum in Miami.
A number of projects under his direction take a creative approach on the much-needed adaptive reuse and restoration of existing buildings, including POST Houston, the transformation of a former post office warehouse in downtown Houston into a mixed-use cultural platform, incorporating a new venue for Live Nation; the conversion of an Art Deco parking garage in New York City into a synagogue; the renovation of the Fitzgerald Building at University of Toronto into a new campus administration center; the adaptive reuse of Jersey City’s Pathside Building into museum for Centre Pompidou; and LANTERN, the conversion of a former commercial bakery into a community arts hub in Detroit.
Jason’s projects in urbanism and the public realm, particularly in Washington, D.C., public health, and equitable development at varying scales: a streetscape design for D.C. Convention Center, the 11th Street Bridge Park connecting disparate communities on either side of the Anacostia River, and a sports and recreation masterplan for the RFK Stadium Armory Campus.
His diverse portfolio extends to residential developments across housing types and regions in North America. Jason led the recently completed Eagle + West, OMA’s first high-rise towers in New York. In California, he oversaw the design and completion of The Avery in San Francisco and is currently leading 730 Stanyan, a 120-unit, 100% affordable housing building in historic Haight Ashbury. Currently in progress is The Perigon, a beachfront high-rise in Miami’s mid-beach neighborhood.
Jason previously served as a key member of AMO and was the Associate Editor of Content (Taschen, 2004).
Jason has lectured at SPUR, Urban Land Institute (ULI), AIA Conventions, and various museums and universities across the globe. He has been a visiting professor at Cornell University School of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP).
Jason holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Vassar College and a Master of Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design (GSD).
A number of projects under his direction take a creative approach on the much-needed adaptive reuse and restoration of existing buildings, including POST Houston, the transformation of a former post office warehouse in downtown Houston into a mixed-use cultural platform, incorporating a new venue for Live Nation; the conversion of an Art Deco parking garage in New York City into a synagogue; the renovation of the Fitzgerald Building at University of Toronto into a new campus administration center; the adaptive reuse of Jersey City’s Pathside Building into museum for Centre Pompidou; and LANTERN, the conversion of a former commercial bakery into a community arts hub in Detroit.
Jason’s projects in urbanism and the public realm, particularly in Washington, D.C., public health, and equitable development at varying scales: a streetscape design for D.C. Convention Center, the 11th Street Bridge Park connecting disparate communities on either side of the Anacostia River, and a sports and recreation masterplan for the RFK Stadium Armory Campus.
His diverse portfolio extends to residential developments across housing types and regions in North America. Jason led the recently completed Eagle + West, OMA’s first high-rise towers in New York. In California, he oversaw the design and completion of The Avery in San Francisco and is currently leading 730 Stanyan, a 120-unit, 100% affordable housing building in historic Haight Ashbury. Currently in progress is The Perigon, a beachfront high-rise in Miami’s mid-beach neighborhood.
Jason previously served as a key member of AMO and was the Associate Editor of Content (Taschen, 2004).
Jason has lectured at SPUR, Urban Land Institute (ULI), AIA Conventions, and various museums and universities across the globe. He has been a visiting professor at Cornell University School of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP).
Jason holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Vassar College and a Master of Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design (GSD).
HALLIE BOYCE
Hallie Boyce, Olin. Partner. A Partner since 2009, Hallie Boyce has seventeen years of experience in the field of landscape architecture and urban design. Her focus is the design of places in the public realm that promote community building and public health through the engagement of urban ecologies and natural systems.
Her expertise in cultural landscapes includes the design of the new U.S. Embassy and Cubitt Square at King’s Cross Station in London, a vision plan for Franklin Park in Washington DC and the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. In 2012 she led the design of the winning entry for the Washington Monument Grounds at the Sylvan Theater.
Recently realized projects include the Spirit of Women Park and Nationwide Children’s Hospital Children’s Garden in Columbus, Ohio and the landscape for the University of California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, California. Hallie has also worked on the design of private estates in Virginia, Wyoming and France.
Hallie is currently an adjunct studio critic for the graduate Urban Lands studio at Temple University. Previously she co-led Studio Slavonice for three years at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design which explored the idea of catalytic landscapes that sustainably transform rural towns along the Czech-Austrian border. She has also been a visiting critic at the University of Virginia and a guest critic at Morgan State University. Hallie holds a Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Art in Art History from Bucknell University.
