What can an architect bring to the design of a bridge?
In 2012, the City of Los Angeles held a design competition to redesign its 6th Street Viaduct.
The original, iconic bridge, which served as the backdrop for dozens of TV shows and films, had deteriorated beyond repair.
The winning team included Michael Maltzan Architecture, who helped conceive and design a bridge that does way more than just connect traffic across the LA River.
It’s an icon, a place to observe the city, and a neighborhood amenity that provides shade and multiple connection points for bikes and pedestrians.
It does all this in addition to being an elegant solution to the complex structural forces at play with a large infrastructural project in an earthquake-prone area.
This video explores the design and construction of the bridge, just a couple months prior to its completion.