CLOSING
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For hundreds of years, people have been dreaming up ways to cross the River
Thames in London, England. The Garden Bridge will likely be the city’s most
unusual river crossing for years to come.
With two mushroom-like support columns and a lush covering of plants and
trees, the pedestrian bridge will be a forest walkway that looks like something
plucked from a fairy tale. It has “no purpose other than to recreate the soul” for
visitors, London Mayor Boris Johnson told The Guardian.
Designer Thomas Heatherwick envisions a place to get lost in. “It’s not just a
bridge with green sideburns,” he told The Guardian. “It’s a proper garden. It has
the potential to be the slowest way to cross the river, with intimate moments and
a lingering scale.”
The £175 million project has substantial public and private support, but critics
say it’s trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist: The Garden Bridge’s proposed
site is 300 meters (984 feet) from an existing crossing.
PROJECT: London’s Garden Bridge
BUDGET: £175 million
SCHEDULE: 2015-2018
LENGTH: 360 meters ( 1,181 feet)
“It’s not just a bridge with green sideburns. It’s
IM
AG
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URT
ES
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OF
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It’s a proper garden. It has the potential to
be the slowest way to cross the river.”
—Thomas Heatherwick, designer, The Garden Bridge, London, England
