DUBLIN’S Heneghan Peng Architects has won a competition to build a controversial bridge across the UNESCO-protected Rhine Valley.
The 150m bridge, linking the towns of St Goar und Sankt Goarshausen, will be situated near one of Germany’s most hallowed sites: the “Loreley” rock on the eastern bank of the river named after the Rhine Maiden who, legend has it, lured sailors here to their doom.
Shih-Fu Peng, at the project’s announcement in Germany, said the challenge was to design a functional bridge that impacted as little as possible on the famous valley: visible yet invisible.
“The site will always be the star here. The initial impact is transparence but as you move through the bridge you begin to understand its finesse and the nuances that make it almost invisible. Our design is about letting the valley slip through undisturbed.”
Whether the bridge will be built was, said, Peng, “the million dollar question”.
The plans will travel to Berlin and then, in June, to UNESCO in Seville. The UN cultural agency bestowed world heritage status on the Loreley in 2002.
The Rhine Valley bridge project has been hotly debated for decades. Backers of the project say it will give the region a much-needed economic boost and end detours of up to 100km to cross the river. Critics say it will ruin the valley and put the UNESCO status at risk.
A Heneghan Peng design won the competition for the new Giant’s Causeway visitor’s centre and for a 2012 Olympic bridge in London.