Design for Life Awards - Maosi Bridge

• Author: Elizabeth March
• Position: WIPO Magazine Editorial Staff, Communications and Public Outreach Division

Among the top nominees for this year's Design for Life INDEX Awards is an extraordinary construction project in the remote province of Gansu, north-west China. Extraordinary, not because it is high tech, or a great work of art, but because of the harmony between the principles of its design and construction, and the needs of the community which it serves.

The Po River runs through the middle of Maosi village, cutting it in two. The old log bridge had to be rebuilt by the villagers each autumn after it was destroyed by monsoon flooding. Its narrow, slippery surface was hazardous for the 200 children, who had to cross the river several times a day to and from their school on the other side. Among regular accidents, a mother and her child were swept to their deaths.

Professor Edward Ng Yan-ynug of the Department of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong CUHK came across the village by chance, and took up the challenge of designing a solution which would be cheap, simple and easy to maintain by the villagers. He brought together architects, engineers, laymen and students to develop ideas. After two years of research and planning, the result was the 80-metre long Wu Zhi Qiao (Bridge of Sustainability).

Rather than try to conquer nature with a massive structure, the team constructed piers without foundations, shaped to minimize resistance to the...