11th Street Bridge Park Designs Are Now Down to the Final Four

Surprise, surprise! The NYC High Line has nothing on us. The 11th Street Bridge Park project has revealed the design concepts that are duking it out to become D.C.'s first elevated public park on the foundations of the old 11th Street freeway bridge across the Anacostia between wards 6, 7 and 8.

All of the designs shown, while radically different, have explored the theme of connecting the communities on each side of the river, especially accounting for public performance to take place in the space.

The finalists are Balmori Associates/Cooper, Robertson & Partners; OLIN/OMA; Stoss Landscape Urbanism/Höweler + Yoon Architecture; and Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT)/NEXT Architects/Magnusson Klemencic Associates. Phew. Say that five times fast.

The bridge park project is a collaborative effort of the DC government and the nonprofit Building Bridges Across the River at THEARC. While the total cost of the park is expected to be a whopping $40 million, the government has pledge $14.5 million of it, and private donations have supplied the rest.

Learn more and view other perspectives of the designs at the Bridge Park website.

· 11th Street Bridge Park competition releases design finalists [WSJ]