News: Dutch studio NEXT Architects has won a competition to design a pedestrian bridge for Changsha, China, with plans for a wavy structure based on the continuous form of a Möbius strip.
NEXT Architects designed the 150-metre bridge to span the Dragon King Harbour River in Changsha's Meixi Lake district - a 6.5 million square-metre development masterplanned by Kohn Pedersen Fox and being built from scratch in the south west of the city.
The structure will comprise a sequence of undulating steel ribbons that combine to create a never-ending surface, just like a Möbius strip.
"The construction with the intersecting connections is based on the principal of the Möbius ring," said Michel Schreinemachers of NEXT Architects, who previously completed a bridge in the Netherlands with different routes for pedestrians and cyclists.
Architect John van de Water says the form is also intended to reference traditional Chinese crafts. "It refers to a Chinese knot that comes from an ancient decorative Chinese folk art," he explained.
The bridge will create three different routes across the water, including one that reaches a height of 24 metres to offer views of the harbour, the city and the surrounding mountains. Lighting fixtures will highlight the profile of the structure after dark.
Construction is set to begin in 2014.