WW+P are runners up in a competition to design a new commemorative bridge over the River Liffey for the Irish National War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge, Dublin. The open international competition, launched in November 2018, received submissions from 61 architectural practices from nine countries. Our entry was supported by engineers AKTII.
The Gardens designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens are dedicated to the memory of the 49,400 Irish soldiers who gave their lives in the First World War.
Our design created a subtle intervention, carefully integrated to enhance the formal gardens and their contemplative spaces. The bridge extends and completes the main ceremonial axis of the gardens, adding to the sequence of memorable spaces along its length. The spaces celebrate life; a new wildflower meadow to the south and a seasonal garden to the north, connected by a slender bridge which dissolves into the landscape and encourages engagement with the river.
The judges admired “this clever three girder cantilever design…giving a view through the bridge structure to the river below while also providing a place for pause and reflection before entering the Memorial garden”.
This commemorative bridge competition organised by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) and the Office of Public Works (OPW) is the first step in realising an important new crossing point, linking sections of Dublin’s walking, cycling and military trails across the river Liffey and extending links from Kilmainham, to the Phoenix Park and further afield. The new bridge will link the north and south banks of the river at the location first proposed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
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