Tulsa Bridge Concept

As part of the Vision Tulsa initiative, the city hosted an open ideas competition to re-imagine the existing Zink Dam Bridge. This was ASL’s concept submission. Be sure to watch the animation and also click through the renderings using the left/right arrows.

Design Concept Statement:

The Gathering Place will undoubtedly be an escape where we Tulsans can leave behind the bustle of the city as we meander around Blair Pond, relax on the Great Lawn, and escape the summer heat in the shade of the Four Seasons Garden. Perhaps for a while, they’ll even forget they’re in the heart of a major city as the serenity of the park embraces them…

As they begin to leave the park’s embrace and onto Zink Bridge, their perspective begins to shift as the focused views of the park’s trails give way to the broad panoramas of the Arkansas River, and, ultimately, the Tulsa skyline. Zink Bridge has always offered one of the most dramatic views of Tulsa. The bridge has acted as an amphitheater to the performance of downtown’s skyline.

This design aims to extend The Gathering Place onto the river and accentuate the bridge’s role as the Tulsa’s amphitheater to highlight the iconic buildings of downtown while simultaneously becoming a more distant piece of that same skyline when viewed from below Zink Dam. Rather than completely demolishing the original Zink Bridge, the main axis of the new design refurbishes key components of the existing structure and becomes primarily a bike path to connect east and west. From there, two new pedestrian walks, the Lakewalk and Skywalk, are added to stretch the bridge north and south.

Lakewalk, stretches the current bridge’s path toward downtown as it dips down to almost touch the water. By dipping down to near the water level, walkers will be able to closely engage with the newly created Zink Lake for fishing or feeding ducks. The hillside will become a destination in itself to view the beautiful, cascading flower garden, to sit and enjoy the glittering reflections of downtown on the lake, or as the premiere view for 4th of July fireworks.

The sinuous balance to Lakewalk is Skywalk. Skywalk stretches the bridge south to hang over Zink Dam and give walkers an up-close view of the new dam. While Lakewalk will be supported by structural piers dropping into the river, Skywalk will be hung from the steel cables as a suspension bridge. The swoop of the bridge’s arch will, itself, undoubtedly become an icon within the broader Tulsa skyline.