Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2016 Winner: Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge, Tehran

Architect: Diba Tensile Architecture – Client: Nosazi Abbassabad Co.

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Aga Khan Award for Architecture

With its numerous benches and seating areas, restaurants and cafes, the bridge nurtures greatly the pedestrian connection. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

Creating a curved path with variable width and changes in slopes between two parks, was intended to avoid a single point perspective. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

Contrary to typical bridges, seating and green areas all along this bridge make it a place to stay rather than just to pass, therefore a popular public destination by itself. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

This 270 meters long pedestrian bridge spans over a valley and connects two public parks on the sides of Modarres Highway, one of the major highways in the city of Tehran. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

View from the south towards the Bridge and Alborz Mountains in the background. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

During the night there are two types of interior lighting. One is the continuous lighting inside the handrails and the other comes from ball-lights inside the green space. The colourful exterior lighting was done by the client without the approval of the designers and it hinders the original design look at night. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

One of the successes of this project is that it is open to all the public, no restrictions on age, gender, etc. It provides spaces from very open to very intimate. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

This living bridge is a destination for the inhabitants of Tehran from all generations and different backgrounds. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

Metal lighted sign panels are used for a better reading at night. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

Iranian teenage girls posing for a selfie with spectacular views. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

Usually considered as structural projects, this bridge has a more architectural approach with its multiple paths and inviting spaces; it became one of Tehran ‘s architectural destinations. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

First level is completely covered by the second level, providing shade during the sunny days and during the rainy or sunny condition people mainly use this level. This makes the bridge to be used in almost any climatic condition.. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

The form of the columns resembles the site trees, making it possible to have a minimal footprint on the ground but, as with trees, opening up with branches so that it can offer a broad span. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

The structure and the architectural design are completely integrated in a way that all the elements (pipes) are visible are structural elements. At the same time, they are producing all the spaces and providing the architectural complexity of the spaces and the circulations in an intricately designed ensemble. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

The aim of this bridge was to invite users to walk through and retain them for sitting and viewing experiences. It was also about minimising the footprint of the project on the site with a minimal number of columns and finding the points with a minimal number or no trees. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

The project espouses the topography of the sloppy site. The hills and their curves oscillate the structures and surfaces of the bridge and transmit their topographic lines to the other park on the other side. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

The bridge combines between the structural intricacy to hold the whole monumental structure with a design outcomes and a set of decks that foster human activities and motions. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

View from the park to the bridge access leading to three different levels. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

The bridge’s location enables the passer-by to get out of the nightmare of the traffic jam in Tehran to overlook the whole city. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

The bridge defines a new type of space, in which the design is responding directly to users’ needs while opening vistas all over to holistically view the city of Tehran. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

The structural concept resulted in a dynamic three dimensional truss with two continuous deck levels; this provided a lower level which is covered and therefore usable in all seasons. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

View at dusk. The bridge becomes a public space for people to gather, walk, interact and entertain. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

Access from the Park to the upper level of the bridge and the stairs leading for the lower level. Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Barzin Baharlouie

Project description

Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge spans a busy highway to connect two parks in a city with a very dense urban fabric and mostly utilitarian architecture. More than a point of connection between two discrete green zones, the bridge is a popular gathering place for the people of Tehran, offering numerous seating areas over its three levels and restaurants at either end. Like many such green spaces within urban areas, it has come to serve as a locus of identity for the city and its inhabitants.

The tree-shaped columns that support Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge echo the forms within the adjacent parks. Their locations were also carefully chosen to minimise the need to fell trees. And where the bridge meets Abo Atash Park, the structure is left open in three places to allow the trees to grow through it, creating the sense of one continuous green space.

Given the complex curving form of the three-dimensional truss, each of the steel elements had to be cut in a different shape, and this was carried out partly by CNC machine and partly by printing the unrolled shape from the 3D model. The tubes were cut, sandblasted and painted with primer in the workshop, then delivered to the site. During the whole process of construction, the flow of traffic on the highway continued uninterrupted. Rather than focusing on the experience of those viewing the bridge from afar, the design is characterised by an inward-looking approach: the sequences of spaces are all centred around the users. The various deck levels are connected by continuous ramps at the bridge’s southern end: the decks themselves are covered in Resysta, an imported fibre-reinforced hybrid material made from rice husks, common salt and mineral oil. The same material – which is both recyclable and weather-resistant – was used for the seating.

Jury citation

“Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise austere and haphazardly built area of Tehran. The challenge of connecting two parks separated by a highway is met with an approach that is exemplary in the context of an infrastructure project, not just in Tehran but perhaps anywhere in the world.”

“The apparent reinterpretation of the original brief, which called for a straightforward connection between two parks, has transformed a ‘bridge’ into a ‘destination’. Inviting people to congregate, interact and appreciate the vista in every direction, the bridge has become a promenade and one of the most successful public spaces in modern Tehran.”

“The bridge’s use of technology and integration of architecture and structure is commendable, particularly in the light of the challenges the team would have faced in the design and procurement stages of the project. Though the jury felt that there was scope for further aesthetic refinement of the structure, it acknowledged that some design decisions may have been influenced by the fact that the bridge lies in an area of high seismic activity.”

“In spite of this, the bridge displays a structural logic that is at once simple yet robust, orderly yet chaotic, but always functional, provocative and inviting. The physical footprint of the structure is minimised, with respect shown towards the existing trees and topography. The sophisticated layering of the bridge deck, which allows and encourages different activities, is commended by the jury.”

“Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge is a successful example of a calculated risk taken by a client, met with the youth and enthusiasm of a group of competent professionals whose work is commendable and deserving of recognition.”

About Diba Tensile Architecture – www.dibats.com

Diba Tensile Architecture, founded in 2005, was the first company in Iran to specialise in the design, fabrication and installation of membrane and tensile structures in Iran. The main idea behind starting the firm was to bring a new industry to the country’s construction industry. The approach at Diba is to integrate architecture and structure with the maximum attention to detail and to the execution of a project, as well as to the quality of the spaces that are created. In 2008 Diba won the competition to design Tabiat Bridge, and, since then, it has undertaken larger-scale projects with sophisticated structural characteristics in close cooperation with Maffeis Engineering SpA.

So far Diba has completed over 300 projects on various scales in Iran, structures that are specifically designed and constructed to meet client needs. These include bridges and open-air amphitheatres, monumental structures, building entrances and parking lots, as well as temporary structures such as sunshades, covers and gazebos It continues to grow in both the design and construction of innovative projects.

Project Data

Aga Khan Award for Architecture Website

www.akdn.org/architecture

2016 Winners

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2016 Winner: Friendship Centre Gaibandha, Bangladesh

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2016 Winner: Bait ur Rouf Mosque Dhaka, Bangladesh

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2016 Winner: Hutong Children’s Library and Art Centre Beijing, China

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2016 Winner: Superkilen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2016 Winner: Tabiat Pedestrian Bridge, Tehran

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2016 Winner: Issam Fares Institute Beirut, Lebanon

2016 Nominated Projects

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 19): Makoko Floating School, Lagos, Nigeria - The Floating School is a prototype structure whose main aim is to generate an alternative building system and urban culture for the populations of Africa’s coastal regions. The triangular A-frame or pyramid

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 18): 40 Knots House, Tehran, Iran - Creating a small and low budget apartment building in Tehran does not leave much space for creativity, yet an architect can try to do something with the material, textures, outer envelope and light.

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 17): Bait Ur Rouf Mosque, Dhaka, Bangladesh - In an increasingly dense neighbourhood of Dhaka, the Bait Ur Rouf Mosque was raised on a plinth on a site axis creating a 13-degree angle with the qibla direction, which called for creativity with the layout.

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 16): Bunateka Libraries, various locations, Kosovo - A series of public libraries for disadvantaged youth in rural areas. “The idea is that books are a source of knowledge just like water is the source of life,” says the architect.

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 15): Casa-Port New Railway Station, Casablanca, Morocco - Casa-Port railway station (French: Gare de Casa-Port) is a "Moroccan National Railway" station in the centre of Casablanca. This transport hub, designed to anticipate 25 million passenger trips-per-year in the future

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 14): Ceuta Public Library, Spain - Ceuta, is a small Spanish enclave city on the Moroccan soil. The site of the Ceuta library is located on the original Marinid dynasty's archaeological area...The excavation ground was included in the interior space of the public building, and the architects

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 13): Doha Tower, Doha, Qatar - It is a cylindrical volume that measures 45m in diameter. The steel and concrete structure follows a diamond shaped grid that bends along the virtual surface of the cylinder. The façade uses a double skin system. The exterior skin is composed

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 12): Friendship Centre, Bangladesh - The Friendship Centre in Gaibandha, Bangladesh, was built for the local NGO Friendship, which provides services for poor citizens of the region. Built by Dhaka-based architect Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury, it was designed

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 11): Guelmim School of Technology, Morocco - Situated in Guelmim, Morocco, 200 kilometres south of Agadir and known as the “door of the Sahara”, the School was conceived in line with a policy of decentralisation and making education more accessible to those living in remote areas.

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 10): Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, Beirut, Lebanon - The Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) building at the American University of Beirut (AUB) advances the university’s academic mission in the 21st century

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 9): King Fahad National Library, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - The King Fahad National Library is one of the most important cultural buildings in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was completed and went into use for its intended purpose in November 2013.

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 8): Manouchehri House, Textile Centre & Boutique Hotel, Kashan, Iran - The Manouchehri House is a boutique hotel and textile centre situated in Kashan’s historic residential neighborhood, in the province of Isfahan. The project entailed the restoration of a 19th century merchant home

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 7): Micro Yuan’er – Hutong/courtyard Renovation, Beijing, China - Micro Yuan'er is a project by zhang ke’s Beijing-based standardarchitecture, which revitalizes a historic hutong courtyard. The inserted structure, which contains a miniature art space and library

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 6): Restoration of Nasrid Tower, Almeria, Spain - This project by Castillo Miras Arquitectos explores the dichotomy between the solid, ageless construction of the existing 13th century Nasrid Tower, and the provisional, light, and degradable nature of the contemporary.

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 5): New Power Station – Baku, Azerbaijan - The Power Station is located on a natural harbor in the Bay of Baku, which used to serve as a small shipyard for the ships working for the oil platforms. The original brief asked the architects to demolish the old

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 4): Royal Academy for Nature Conservation – Ajloun Forest Reserve, Jordan - Royal Academy for Nature Conservation in Ajloun Forest Reserve of Jordan is “the first centre in the Arab world” specialised in offering training on nature conservation.

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 3): Superkilen – Public Park – Copenhagen, Denmark - Superkilen is a public park in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. A public space promoting integration across lines of ethnicity, religion and culture. A meeting place for residents of Denmark

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 2): Tabiat – Pedestrian Bridge – Tehran, Iran - Tabiat Bridge, literally: “Nature Bridge” is the largest pedestrian overpass built in Tehran, Iran. The architects first conceived the two-to-three level, 270-metre-long curved pedestrian bridge of varying width

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2014-2016 Cycle (Shortlisted Project # 1): Thread – Artists Residency & Cultural Center – Senegal - Thread is a socio-cultural centre that houses two artists’ dwellings and studio space for local and international artists. An ecologically sensitive meeting place which demonstrates how art and architecture can be part of rural life

Researched & Compiled by Arif Ali