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Living Venetian Bridge

Part 2 Project 2006
Robert Moore
University of Portsmouth | UK
The personal goal for the thesis was to create a method to control concept design.

Our studio focuses on context driven design, Venice being the topic for this year and last. I developed the idea of travelling through Venetian streets on a previous project and this was developed with the idea of a Venetian bridge. The findings developed from the dissertation project on Japanese traditional structure and organisation were also used.

These ideas were clarified within a concept outlining where they are represented. So that the scheme could be designed with clear intent from masterplan to detail design


Inspired by Japanese architecture and the use of timber jointing , this became a metaphor for Robert’s architectural response in Venice, a building that could be analogous to a joint, connecting two parts of the city.

It related to a master plan which reinvented a part of Venice. It was a bridge, containing a series of functions strongly related to its context. The bridge has a law library, and support facilities for the existant local courts. The journey across the bridge is part of an extended journey , a promenade, across Venice.
The scheme is subtle in the way it relates to the water, captures the reflected light in the library, but also generous at the scale of the city.

2006
The butterfly joint as a metaphor for bridging
Venice and the site from piazzale roma to santa marta, a new route is proposed with the new bridge structure spanning the canal and forming the connection.
The process in which the new bridge is cut into the surrounding context and the resulting site.
Floor plans and section through the proposed bridge stucture, the bridging joint is separated into zones reflecting the existing context and a public route is cut with alleyways passing side to side. Each zone steps up to bridge the canal.
1:500 and 1:200 models demonstrating the platform structure and the context cut around its perimiter.
beneath the bridge a light well penetrates the structure and allows sunlight to bathe and reflect in the canal water
section through the bridge and light well
one of the bridge structures on the court building side of the canal. a law library providing for the court facility. floor plans plus route and organisation diagram
section through the law library with the route wraped around the central light well.
entrance to the law library demonstrating the venetian alleyway and light quality
the progression of route through the library demonstrating views and vistas along the way
the central light well near the end of the route
the integration of structure to the scheme, japanese and venetian structures support each other and are clealy separated by the ground floor level
final model of the law library clearly demonstrating the book shelves bridging the ground and first floor levels pearcing the facade
physical model demonstrating light quality at eye level
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