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South Bayfront Pedestrian
Bicycle Bridge
Emeryville, California, USA
Emeryville Marina Nature Center
Emeryville, California, USA
SOUTH BAYFRONT PEDESTRIAN BICYCLE BRIDGE
OVERVIEW AND SUMMARY
In the city of Emeryville, a city of approximately
one square mile in area and 8000 residents, at the edge of the San Francisco
Bay between Oakland and Berkeley, California, was proposed a new kind
of pedestrian bicycle bridge. At a site bordering eight north/south
railroad tracks running through the center of town with a large shopping
area to the west and a campus of bio-technology buildings on the east
side, Tsui Design and Research, Inc. , an architecture firm headed by
Dr. Eugene Tsui, proposed a new pedestrian bicycle bridge unlike any
bridge in the world. The bridge is much more than a bridge--more than
a pass-through to get from one side to another--it is an aesthetic,
cultural, educational and social destination for the people of the community.
The bridge structure would be made of
structural steel with an iridescent, zinc-coated metal finish that is
weather-proof and gives off a multi-colored reflective shimmer. This
makes it very easy to clean and maintain. The pedestrian bicycling walkway
is made of colored, fly-ash concrete that is textured and gives off
no CO2 off gassing to the environment. The concrete floor will have
sand blasted poems and special designs to create an ambiance of profound
human expression.
Pedestrian/Bicycling
The bridge would contain approximately 1400 linear feet of pedestrian/bicycling
ramps and 100 linear feet of plaza area where built-in seating and a
four-foot-high waterfall and glass-bottom fountain are located. The
ramps and plaza are 14 feet wide, with eight feet of width for bicycling
and six feet for pedestrians. The pedestrian walkway path is raised
six inches higher than the bicycle level. Seating is 14 inches high,
and the fountain would have a 12-inch-high seating curb surrounding
it. The east side ramps, with a maximum slope of five degrees, contain
a 33-foot-diameter ramped loop to comfortably accommodate bicyclists
without inhibiting pedestrians. Spotlighted “totems” with
unidirectional casing allows light to shine on the bridge without the
source being seen by neighbors.
Social Community
The pedestrian bicycle bridge is a place where people congregate. It
is a pass-through for persons traveling from two major neighborhoods
of Emeryville, the Bay Street shopping area and the Novartis/Pixar office/residential
neighborhood. Thousands of persons would cross the bridge at lunch hour
and after hours. This makes the bridge a likely gathering destination
for people to socialize, sit down for lunch (180 linear feet of built-in
seating on the bridge) by the waterfall/fountain, gaze out at the panoramic
views to the south and north, or study the “outdoor strolling
museum” and the beautiful artistic surface designs and poetry
as they pass by. The bridge becomes a social destination, an ambiance
of art and inspiration.
Culture/Art ... and Skateboarders
We intend to design the paved surface, built-in seating and railing
walls of the bridge in such a way as to be a three-dimensional work
of art. From the first entrance area, one side of the bridge wall will
be made up of bas relief sculptures, porcelain enamel covered photographs
and historical items embedded to give a visual and tactile sense of
Emeryville-area history. Original pieces of baskets, fishing spears,
arrowheads and pottery would be encased and preserved in ceramic or
clear resin. Photographs, pieces of newspapers, ticket stubs, flyers
from the past are integrated within the ceramic.
The textured and colored concrete surfaces of the paving could be sandblasted
to create intricate designs and reflective words of poetry. These rough
paving surfaces deter skateboarders. The serrated-edge seating is comfortable
for seated visitors but impossible for skateboarding.
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History and Education
Emeryville has a fascinating history and the area has historical artifacts
and information that take us back centuries in time. That distinctive
history ought to be a feature of the bridge. The bridge is an opportunity
for thousands of people a day to learn about Emeryville’s past
and to put the present and future into perspective. We propose to have
an outdoor historic museum as a permanent feature of the bridge, telling
the stories of life 500 to 1000 years ago to the present day, through
“day-in-the-life” vignettes to give visitors a real sense
of life in those times.
The remarkable stories of the past century, the Shellmound Amusement
Park, the New California Jockey Club, Double Steam Motor Company, the
Greyhound Racing Track, the Emeryville Speed Racing track, the Oaks
Ball Park and many other historical places and events would be included
in a kind of stroll through history of the area.
We have had discussions with Emeryville artist/sculptor Mr. Scott Donahue
and with Superintendent of the Emeryville School District, Dr. Tony
Smith, who have both given conceptual and logistical scenarios regarding
how the outdoor museum could be a part of the school curriculum whereby
students and teachers help local artists with creating this exhibit/museum
and work with the community to determine events that would be preserved
forever on the bridge as a permanent record of Emeryville’s future.
The bridge then might hold an annual event of installing the new portions
of the museum, preserving Emeryville’s present and future.
The bridge structure itself is an educative
device for showing visitors how the stress and strain of a structure
works. Every aspect of the bridge is meant to reveal itself to demonstrate
its intrinsic tension and dynamics. Even the cables would be anchored
in such a way that visitors can sit next to them and touch them really
getting a feeling of how the bridge works. In this light, the bridge
is not just a big structure to pass over, it is a work of art to learn
from, to understand something extraordinary. Dr. Tony Smith, Superintendent
of the Emeryville Unified School District has stated that he would develop
programs for students and teachers to research and monitor the bioremediation
aspects of the bridge and to study its renewable energy and engineering
features. The bridge becomes an educative destination for everyone.
Renewable Energy
A series of photovoltaic solar panels at the top of the bridge parabola
create 10,000 watts of renewable electricity. A lateral bank of windmills
can also be placed onto the apex of the parabola to produce another
20,000 watts of renewable electricity. A portion of the electricity
powers the lights of the bridge and the landscaped park and street areas.
The residual electricity could be sold back to the state’s utility
grid by the City of Emeryville. A times sprinkler system at the surface
of the PV panels would prevent dirt and soot buildup an preserve maximum
solar exposure.
Ecology/Bioremediation
The bridge contains a plant-based bioremediation system where rainwater
is directed through specially designed swales that guide water through
a plant filtration strip on the bridge. Rainwater is filtered and cleaned
before flowing into Temescal Creek, and from there into San Francisco
Bay, as clean water. Thus, the bridge is a water-cleaning device for
the public to see and experience. We are also researching materials
that would prevent soot-staining of the bridge over time.
Civic Aspirations
The South Bayfront Pedestrian Bicycle Bridge is an acknowledgment of
Emeryville’s past, an affirmation of Emeryville’s present
and a catalyst for its future. It is an expression of a community that
is informed by issues of ecological sustainability, social leadership
and civic vision. This project sets a precedent a bold and relevant
statement of a city and its council that took up the challenge to reach
high and take a step forward, to show that Emeryville is a city where
community initiative and civic leadership can create vitality and imagination
that enriches its citizens and shows them the possibilities of a creative
future.
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