Architect: Architecture Operations D.P.C.
Project Location: Durham, NC
Project Completion Date: August 2016
Short Description: The West Campus Bridge/Pavilion is a synthesis of nature, embedding a sense of Duke’s forested grounds within the student’s circulation experience. The bridge is a thin concrete structure featuring coffers that both remove mass and add structural efficiency. At the center of some coffers are prismatic cast glass lenses that collect daylight and illuminate the pub and lounge with a soft diffused light. The slenderness of the structure achieves a floating presence in the landscape, while the pub and lounge below the bridge are memorable spaces enfolding students within a forest-like atmosphere.
Architect’s Statement: This new Bridge/Pavilion is at the heart of the Duke Campus, defining the circulation experience in the West Union District and supporting the students’ social and cultural life. The Bridge/Pavilion embodies the university’s identity by embedding a sense of Duke’s forested grounds within the design. The conceptual approach and refined execution of this infrastructure results in timeless place making. The structure balances its functions as bridge above and habitable space below, supporting both wayfinding and socializing and creating a fluid exchange between the two elevations and the interior and exterior spaces. The thin concrete structure is supported at one end with a sheer wall, and the remainder with slender columns. The underside of the bridge acts as the pavilion ceiling, with coffers that remove mass and add structural efficiency. The ceiling visually references the waffle slab and skylight system of the Bryan Center, a student services building at the terminus of the bridge’s axis. At the center of selected coffers is a void occupied by a prismatic glass. In a synthesis of the forest canopy, the prismatic glass lenses project the sky dome within the bridge deck’s cast shadow, flickering as students pass by above. Students traversing the bridge may also become aware of activity below transmitted through, and projected onto the lightly etched surface of the structural glass pavers flush with the deck. Figures, colors and movement are essentially embedded in the bridge. In the pavilion, the mirror surface of the structural concrete ceiling, achieved using special forms, and the mirror finish of the polished stainless steel columns, captures views of the adjacent landscape and surrounding student activity, heightening the dynamic presence of nature and light within the pavilion. Strategic vertical planes of etched glass subtly delineate physical boundaries of the pavilion while maintaining an accessible and welcoming atmosphere. The glass moderates outdoor conditions and collects light and color from the adjacent landscape, particularly emphasizing vertical circulation along the stairs. The bridge itself and the pub and lounge in the pavilion below are unique and memorable spaces that encourage students to engage with their surroundings, socialize and exchange of ideas. The Bridge/Pavilion is the result of a cross-disciplinary and collaborative process, distilled into a functional piece of infrastructure that successfully embodies both contemplative self-reflection and exuberant exchange.
Type of Construction: Bridge deck is reinforced cast concrete cast with custom fiberglass formwork Bridge deck surface is exterior terrazzo Lenses consist of laminated and etched glass pavers, cast glass and stainless steel collar and sleeve Sidewalls are laminated and etched glass Bridge is supported by concrete sheer wall and mirror polished stainless steel columns