A 26 m long bridge over the Li River will be located between the Olympic Stadium, Basketball Arena and the Aquatics Center. The main task for the participants of the architectural competition was to combine the use of this structure during the Games and after their end. Accordingly, after the completion of the Olympics, the width of the bridge should be significantly reduced, which should have been originally laid down in its design.
Henegan Peng proposed to place a special decorative area in the center of the bridge, which is part of the pavement, but also plays the role of a large screen. It can be colored with colored lights according to the principle of confetti or painted in the colors of the flag of the winning country of a particular competition. After 2012, the middle section of the bridge can be removed, and instead of a total width of 55 m, it will be reduced to two longitudinal stripes and a narrow diagonal line. This part of the structure is compared by architects to the blade of a knife; its purpose is to serve as a viewing platform for the surroundings of the Li River. A green amphitheater will be located under the bridge, which will connect the main level of the park with the banks of the river, and will become a meeting place and rest for the townspeople.
In total, six workshops out of 46 participants in the competition reached the final. Besides the winners, these were McDowell & Benedetti, Softroom, Tonkin Liu, Futche Systems and Ron Arad's workshop.
The most ambitious was the McDowell & Benedetti project, which proposed including a huge ring as high as the Trafalgar Column in its bridge design.
