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Winner Announced in West End Pedestrian Bridge Competition
Alcoa Foundation and Riverlife today announced the winner of the West End Pedestrian Bridge Design Competition, an international design contest to add world-class improvements and enhancements to Pittsburgh’s West End Bridge including a walking and bicycle trail across the Ohio River. Endres Ware, an architectural design and engineering firm based in Berkeley, Calif., is the first-place winner and will receive a $7,500 cash prize funded by a $413,000 Alcoa Foundation grant that supports the competition.
Launched in October 2005, the competition included both an open contest and an invited request for qualifications (RFQ), capturing the imagination of nearly 100 architects, engineers, designers and artists from around the world.
Out of a pool of seven finalists that were selected in March—following a public display at Alcoa’s Corporate Center on the North Shore—Endres Ware was chosen by a panel of expert judges.
“The judges described the Endres Ware design as elegant because of its simplicity, but with a geometric variety that will be visually exciting to see as people approach from the riverbanks. The feedback that the judges gave indicated that this design respects and enhances the existing West End Bridge and builds on a very distinguished history that is unique to Pittsburgh, while it creates new opportunities for people to stroll, sit and linger,” said Lisa Schroeder, executive director of Riverlife. “Overall, the pedestrian bridge could serve as an exciting icon or image to take the city into the future as it moves forward with its riverfront development.”
The second- and third-place winners are La Dallman Architects of Milwaukee, Wis., and West 8 Urban Design and Landscape Architecture of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. They will receive prizes of $5,000 and $2,500 respectively. The winners have been posted on www.riverlifecompetition.org.