Washington DC's first elevated park

Landscape architect OLIN’s winning design for Washington D.C.’s 11th Street Bridge Park will connect two historically disparate sides of the Anacostia River.

Their desire to make the river landscape accessible to the community has resulted in the design of a three-acre park hovering above, yet also anchored in, the Anacostia, reusing the old piers for their foundation.

Construction of the 11th Street Bridge Park began in 2014 and still ongoing.

It will be Washington D.C.’s first elevated park, commissioned in a collaboration between the D.C. Government and Building Bridges Across the River. The design will connect the existing Anacostia Riverwalk Trails on both sides, and create a new topography while promoting the health of the river.

The park will offer an after hours destination for residents and a new territory for tourists.

A bridge that forms an X-shape splits into two levels and provides sloped ramps to lookout points on either side of the river, with paths joining to form a loop. At the intersection of these paths sits an open plaza to be used as a flexible venue for markets, theatre and festivals.

Platforms give shelter and shade to a café, performance space and hammock grove, which are all partially carved into the body of the bridge and offer views of the river below.

The park caters for a variety of users and reacreational passtimes.

Voids along the bridge become spaces for play, relaxation and gathering, while also encouraging visitors down to the river itself. Gardens, urban agriculture plots, playgrounds and a canoe and kayak launch all allow for an inclusive civic experience.

A waterfall marks the completion of each side of the bridge, reconnecting them to the river. On the East Side, the waterfall links to an active filtration system, and coupled with new wetland areas bordering the development, will actively clean the river around the Anacostia Crossing.

Waterfalls mark the ends of the bridge on each side.

An Environmental Education Centre tells the 400-year history of the river, and OLIN argue their design, “will serve as a catalyst to improve the ecological integrity of the Anacostia River through demonstration and education on ecosystem enhancement as well as restoration shoreline plantings making it once again one of our Nation’s greatest waterways.”

In their discussion of the project, OLIN say that, “to create this place- more destination than elevated thoroughfare- we have designed the bridge park as a clear moment of intersection where two sides of the river converge and coexist. Anacostia Crossing will offer layered programs, presenting a new neighbourhood park, an after-hours destination for the nearby workforce, a retreat for residents and a territory for tourists to explore.”

11th Street Bridge Park was begun in 2014 and construction is still ongoing.

The park includes an environmental education centre.