I was surprised and not surprised, when I read on June 25th, UNESCO's World Hertiage Committee announcement that Dresden, Germany, a World Heritage site since 2004, was delisted. This was because of a badly needed 4 lane bridge called the Wald to relieve traffic congestion scheduled for construction near the city center.
Dresden is often referred to as the 'Florence' of germany because of its Baroque and rich historical heritage. I'll be honest, I have not been to Dresden as of date. But that has not stopped me from admiring its Architecture from far away.
I was particularly excited when after being obliterated in World War II, the City painstakingly rebuilt every important piece of architecture and in 2005, it culminated in the completion of reconstruction of the Dresden Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). It symbolized not only the strength of overcoming the ravages of war but the honoring of the spirit of human achievement. The reconstruction also confirmed the appointment of Dresden as a worthy World Heritage Site.
For those of you not familiar with what the criteria of qualifying for being a World Heritage Site, then please click here at the UNESCO's World Heritage website for the Criteria. It's an important organization that seeks to support and maintain what are the essential foundations of humanity and culture.
I show here a photo of Dresden and one of the simplest Baroque bridges, built in 1728. This is followed by the drawing comparing the design profiles and size of the various existing bridges in Dresden and the new proposed Waldschloesschen bridge. and finally renderings of some of the proposed designs of the new bridge.
I was shocked to see the designs of the proposed bridge Waldschloesschen Bridge. The desire to make an individualistic design statement seem to be at the forefront of the engineer/designer's mind. This is obviously supported if not encouraged by the city planners and officers. It is no wonder Dresden was delisted from the list of World Heritage sites.
Since the last decade, design has emphasized the "me" concept. "Look at me", I'm an object to be admired. Every architect or engineer who has made a name for themselves have all resorted to ignoring the context of existing buildings and landscape that surround the area. While others who have attempted to "blend" in garnered little to no recognition. This seems to go hand in hand with our whole society's problem of everything is for "me". Which, if you extrapolate it, is the result of our collective economic and social problems we are dealing with throughout the globe today.
The chosen design by Eisenloffel, Sattler & Partner follows the idea of ignoring context. If you look at all the existing bridges, with the exception of the Blue Wonder, all the bridges have simple profiles that do not compete with the surrounding baroque buildings. In fact, the old bridges do not celebrate itself but rather connects you to the buildings that should be celebrated.
On the other hand, the World Heritage committee was also rather unrealistic. Without considering cost, they insisted on the City of Dresden building a tunnel instead. The bridge costs approximately $226 M, while a tunnel would make it cost prohibitive. It is a arrogant and ridiculous idea.
In order to select a designer, the City issued a competition. I do not understand why the City did not request for a bridge design that addressed the issue of context. While I have not seen all the entry designs submitted, from the four proposed designs shown in this article which includes the winning entry, it does not appear that it was a real criteria.
If the design statement is the celebration of a historical city, then all other design statements need to support it. So why didn't the city or the design firm(s) come up with a proposal that was perhaps similar to the existing low profile bridges? Why not take cues from those designs instead of the current uninspired design? In fact, it is one of those - "look at me" designs. But this time, the "me" does not know it's ugly.
What a shame that a city would throw away all their efforts of rebuilding what is historical with a new bridge that counters every aspect of what they have achieved so far. And worse, the designers who should have considered this, did not give a rats ass except for their insatiable avarice for recognition.
Photo by: Travel Mail Writer at MAIL
Bridge comparison drawing by: Gmd
1 Bridge Rendering by: Unknown
4 Bridge Renderings by: DDP, from Der Spiegel
Birdseye rendering of bridge by: Unknown
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