OMA and Olin win competition to design garden bridge for Washington DC
News: Rem Koolhaas' firm OMA has teamed up with American landscape architecture studio Olin to create the winning design for the 11th Street Bridge Park – a raised garden spanning Washington DC's Anacostia River (+ slideshow).
![11th Street Bridge Park by OMA and OLIN](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Anacostia_Crossing_by_OMA_and_OLIN_dezeen_468_15.jpg)
Netherlands-based OMA and Olin beat three other design teams to win a government-supported competition to design a bridge that could provide a new "civic space" for the USA's capital city.
![11th Street Bridge Park by OMA and OLIN](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Anacostia_Crossing_by_OMA_and_OLIN_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
The project, currently expected to cost $35 million (£22 million), was proposed to find new uses for a series of piers that previously supported a major road crossing across the Anacostia River, which has been moved to a new location.
The new design is comparable to New York's popular High Line park and Thomas Heatherwick's garden bridge proposal for the River Thames in London.
![11th Street Bridge Park by OMA and OLIN](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Anacostia_Crossing_by_OMA_and_OLIN_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
More than 40 teams entered the first stage of the competition after it was launched in January. Four were chosen for the second stage, receiving $25,000 (£15,000) each to develop their proposals.
These consisted of OMA and Olin, Balmori Associates with Cooper, Robertson & Partners, Stoss Landscape Urbanism with Höweler + Yoon Architecture, and Wallace Roberts & Todd with NEXT Architects and Magnusson Klemencic Associates.
![11th Street Bridge Park by OMA and OLIN](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Anacostia_Crossing_by_OMA_and_OLIN_dezeen_468_13.jpg)
OMA and Olin's winning proposal suggested a structure that splits into two levels that meet in the centre to form a cross shape.
![11th Street Bridge Park by OMA and OLIN](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Anacostia_Crossing_by_OMA_and_OLIN_dezeen_468_10.jpg)
This creates space to create a number of enclosed facilities including a cafe and an environmental centre, while retaining large areas for gardens and plazas.
![11th Street Bridge Park by OMA and OLIN](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Anacostia_Crossing_by_OMA_and_OLIN_dezeen_468_8.jpg)
"Our design creates a literal intersection and a dynamic, multi-layered amenity for both sides of the river," said OMA partner-in-charge Jason Long.
Dezeen Book of Interviews: Rem Koolhaas features in our new book, which is on sale now
![11th Street Bridge Park by OMA and OLIN](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Anacostia_Crossing_by_OMA_and_OLIN_dezeen_468_19.jpg)
"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 recognisable within the capital's tradition of civic spaces."
![11th Street Bridge Park by OMA and OLIN](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Anacostia_Crossing_by_OMA_and_OLIN_dezeen_468_4.jpg)
Competition juror Harry G Robinson, professor of Urban Design and dean emeritus at the city's Howard University, said the design would be "both a crossing and a place".
![11th Street Bridge Park by OMA and OLIN](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Anacostia_Crossing_by_OMA_and_OLIN_dezeen_468_9.jpg)
"In its purest role it is a hyphen that connects and celebrates the physical and cultural histories of two historic and vibrant Anacostia shoreline communities, while establishing a civic expression of democracy," he said.
![11th Street Bridge Park by OMA and OLIN](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Anacostia_Crossing_by_OMA_and_OLIN_dezeen_2.gif)
![11th Street Bridge Park by OMA and OLIN](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Anacostia_Crossing_by_OMA_and_OLIN_dezeen_5.gif)
![11th Street Bridge Park by OMA and OLIN](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Anacostia_Crossing_by_OMA_and_OLIN_dezeen_4.jpg)
![11th Street Bridge Park by OMA and OLIN](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/10/Anacostia_Crossing_by_OMA_and_OLIN_dezeen_0.jpg)