From a field of 109 design teams, seven finalists have been chosen in the international design competition to add a pedestrian crossing to the West End Bridge.

	Endres Ware Architect Endres Ware envisions a pedestrian walkway on the upstream side of the West End Bridge, suspended from its arc and level with the road deck. Click photo for larger image.

The finalists are Bridgescape LLC of Columbia, Md.; Endres Ware of Berkeley, Calif.; Index Space Architecture of Miami, Fla.; La Dallman Architects of Milwaukee; Llonch + Vidalle Architecture of Buenos Aires and New York City; TEN Arquitectos of Mexico City and New York City; and West 8 Urban Design and Landscape Architecture of Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

"We have solutions that are functional and celebratory, that include exciting lighting and incorporate beautiful materials, that take in spectacular views and that animate the shorelines with water landings and marinas," said Lisa Schroeder, executive director of the Riverlife Task Force, which sponsored the competition.

Of the 85 proposals submitted in the open competition, three finalists were selected to advance their ideas for connecting the West End Bridge to both shores of the Ohio River, a move that will fill a gap in the Three Rivers Park trail system that Riverlife is developing along Pittsburgh's three rivers. Those three teams -- Endres Ware, Index Space Architecture and Llonch + Vidalle Architecture -- each will receive a $1,000 cash prize and advance to Stage II of the competition.

All three designs strive to make the pedestrian bridge a destination in its own right, one that provides panoramic views of the rivers and city. Endres Ware's entry positions the footbridge on the upstream side of the West End Bridge, suspended from its arc and level with its deck. Index Space Architecture weaves the arches of the pedestrian bridge above and below the West End Bridge deck, while Llonch + Vidalle Architecture suspends a sleek, modern structure below the existing bridge.

In addition, 24 teams submitted comparable work rather than specific proposals for the West End Bridge. The four winners from that group -- Bridgescape LLC, La Dallman Architects, TEN Arquitectos and West 8 Urban Design and Landscape Architecture -- also will advance to the final stage of the competition.

Bridgescape is led by Frederick Gottemoeller, architect, engineer and author of "Bridgescape," a 1998 book about innovative bridge design. La Dallman Architects designed the recently completed pedestrian/bicycle Marsupial Bridge in Milwaukee. TEN Arquitectos, led by Enrique Norten, has received critical acclaim in recent years for its contemporary buildings: "TEN never argues for the virtue of its forms," the critic Michael Sorkin has written. "The forms simply whisper their elegance, suitability and loveliness." West 8 Urban Design and Landscape Architecture won a recent competition to design an underground tunnel for the M30 highway in Madrid.

In Stage II of the competition, the seven finalists each will receive $15,000 stipends to visit Pittsburgh and further develop their ideas over a 30-day period. At the end of Stage II, the open competition jury will choose the winners, who will be announced in May. Cash prizes of $7,500, $5,000 and $2,500 will be awarded to first-, second- and third-place winners.

In addition to the seven finalists, five teams, including C-Thru Design led by Pittsburgh architect David Roth, received honorable mention awards for contributing important ideas to the competition. The others are 4240 Architecture; Architecture Denver; Claus Gade and Peter Leuchsenring; and Hiroyuki Futai.

The West End Pedestrian Bridge Competition is supported by the Alcoa Foundation. There is not yet a budget or timeline for completion of the bridge. Entries and finalists are posted at www.riverlifecompetition.org.