La Salle Park Connector, Buffalo NY
The existing La Salle and 4th Street Parks are to be re-configured as the Ralph C Wilson Jr Centennial Park. The bridge connects the new park across I-190 and CSX railroad on a skew alignment, spanning 440ft/134m between new berms that canalize the transport corridor. The bridge is designed to provide an organic crossing as a spatial continuation of the valley planned to track through the park to Lake Erie. Inclined upstand edge girders are arranged rotationally, providing a transitional journey for users. Two ‘external rooms’ at opposite corners provide strategic views to landscape. Traffic heading towards the nearby border crossing into Canada will glimpse the red interior, and traffic in the opposing direction will see the blue of New York, each room reflecting the primary colour emblems of respective city, state and nation.