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New York City
Wendy Evans Joseph, AIA
Photography © Wyatt
Gallery Photography
Welcoming bridge boosts safety
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"The
pedestrian bridge forges a link between the campus
and housing, providing a safe passage for all."
—Torsten Wiesel, President
Emeritus
"This
solution is so elegant and effective that it's
hard to imagine how the university functioned
Before this bridge was built."
—Gary Haney, AIA
Architect
Wendy Evans Joseph, AIA
Client
The Rockefeller University
Key Players
Click here to
find a complete listing of the people
and products involved in the completion of
this project and an additional photograph.
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After a series of accidents injured residents
of a high-rise apartment building serving Rockefeller University
in New York City, officials recognized that they needed a
bridge to get residents over the traffic swarming on and off
a highway that separated the building from the campus.
Wendy Evans Josephs, in getting acquainted
with the university president emeritus Torsten Wiesel, learned
that he
had rejected a bridge design that circled
a neighboring building, making it too costly to build. She
sketched a cable-stayed alternative, suspending the bridge
deck from a single pier and mast, which avoided disrupting
traffic during construction and relocating a maze of underground
utilities.
It didn't rely on the adjacent buildings
for support—they didn't have the capacity. She submitted
her idea unsolicited. Urged to develop it, she and joint venture
partner Weidlinger Associates, structural engineers, eventually
built it for one fourth the rejected design's estimate.
From the apartments, Josephs routed the
new pedestrian path through a laboratory building, linking
it to a reworked plaza and entrance to another long-neglected
complex of lab buildings. The rails and bridge deck were slimmed
to keep vistas to the East River unblocked, and campus steam
lines and utilities were extended under the walking deck,
freeing the apartment building of costly vendor-supplied heat.
The utility savings alone will pay for the cost of the bridge
in just a few years. No one has to dodge cars and trash bins
to enter the campus anymore. The elegance of the bridge and
campus entrance now aids recruitment.
For more on this project please see the
October 2001 issue of Architectural Record.
The Winners: Chesapeake
Bay | Corning
Museum | Dulwich
Galllery | Kuhonji
Temple Gate | LVMH
Tower | Pedestrian
Bridge | Phillips
Plastics | Saitama
Arena | SAP Headquarters
| Chiller Plant
| Wieden + Kennedy
Headquarters
The Finalists:
Allegheny
Jail | Hansen
Construction | Helmut
Lang Perfumerie | Herman
Miller Showroom | Lincoln
St. Garage | TBWA/Chiat/Day
| U.S. Courthouse
| Westpac Stadium
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