Architectural competition for a new pedestrian bridge over the Drava river in Maribor

 

Our suggestion to the city is plain and simple: don’t build a bridge, build a raft! The raft brings people from one river bank to the other. Its form is clear and elegant - a single drop of water, silently moving on the surface of the river. As one of the most basic natural and geometrical forms it appears both futuristic and archaic; it's almost timeless.

The raft can become a stage or a statue, Maribor can lend it to a friendly city for a month. It can become a model for further rafts, a true icon, imagine three or four of them on the river; one used instead of a bridge, other instead if a bus, the third as a restaurant or a bar!

The raft functions completely automatically, like elevators in the buildings or metro trains in some cities. It is energetically self-sufficient. To move across the river, it uses the energy of water current. To raise the louvers, lid the interior and even play the music for the passengers, it uses the energy provided by solar panels on the roof.