Why Skyscrapers Have Bridges (and will need more)

Discover the future of urban design with skybridges with me, Dr. Antony Wood skybridge expert, and Jaron Lubin from Moshe Safdie Architects. From their historical origins in Venice's Bridge of Sighs to modern-day wonders like the Petronas Towers and Marina Bay Sands Resort in Singapore, explore how skybridges are revolutionizing city landscapes. Learn how these elevated walkways not only enhance connectivity and circulation between buildings but also create vibrant public spaces floating in the air. Uncover the challenges and incentives that shape the adoption of skybridges in different cities, and the potential for a network of interconnected structures to redefine urban experiences. Join the discussion on the future of architecture and subscribe to the channel for more captivating content every other Thursday!

__CREDITS__
Video co-produced and edited by Evan Montgomery.
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images, Storyblocks, and Shutterstock.
Music provided by Epidemic Sound

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__About the Channel__
Architecture with Stewart is a YouTube journey exploring architecture’s deep and enduring stories in all their bewildering glory. Weekly videos and occasional live events breakdown a wide range of topics related to the built environment in order to increase their general understanding and advocate their importance in shaping the world we inhabit.

__About Me__
Stewart Hicks is an architectural design educator that leads studios and lecture courses as an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He also serves as an Associate Dean in the College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts and is the co-founder of the practice Design With Company. His work has earned awards such as the Architecture Record Design Vanguard Award or the Young Architect’s Forum Award and has been featured in exhibitions such as the Chicago Architecture Biennial and Design Miami, as well as at the V&A Museum and Tate Modern in London. His writings can be found in the co-authored book Misguided Tactics for Propriety Calibration, published with the Graham Foundation, as well as essays in MONU magazine, the AIA Journal Manifest, Log, bracket, and the guest-edited issue of MAS Context on the topic of character architecture.

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#architecture #urbandesign

[mikeciul]

I just went back and watched your video on interior urbanism, "The Bewildering Architecture of Indoor Cities." I was surprised this new video was so positive about skybridges because the old one seemed much more cautious about creating extended interior spaces. It seemed to me like there were some serious issues: problems of inconsistent management with connected spaces owned by different entities, disorientation and disconnection from the outdoors, questions about freedom within commercially-controlled space... and bad smells (in the Chicago pedway). Did your attitude towards interior urbanism change, or is there something different about this vision of skybridges?

[ericsutherland]

The sidewalk is the democratic engine of a city. Any 'network' above the ground is a little less public and the higher you go the less public it gets.

I'm surprised I haven't seen the most obvious effect of skybridges mentioned here: They push pedestrian traffic out of the public space on the ground, surrendering that space to cars. If that's positive or negative depends on your point of view, but personally, I'd much rather prefer walking on tha ground and having motorized traffic relegated below ground or to dedicated bridges (that may or may not intersec buildings)

[Errzman]

Making places more walk-able and encouraging people to mingle in public spaces would be great. I would be somewhat worried about whether these spaces would be accessible to everyone however. If sky scrapers were thought more as public infrastructure rather than a private industry, i would definitely want to live in one of these interconnected cities!

[BalthasarCarduelis]

The city of Calgary, Alberta, which has very cold winters, has a network of skybridges, downtown, called, the +15 system (because the bridges are 15 feet above the ground floor). It was designed by architect, Harold Hanen, in 1970. A pedestrian can walk from one end of downtown to the other without ever stepping foot out into the cold. The University campus, further north, is also connected with a similar system, although some connections are at ground level or below; students can walk from any faculty to another without ever stepping out into the snow.

[ZarHakkar]

I was worldbuilding a cyberpunk dystopia once. A concept I came up with was the Stack. Basically all the skyscrapers of a city become pillars for a massive platform that becomes the 2nd level of the city. The top level gets all the sun and parks, and is where the upper class work and live, while the below level becomes the slums where all the lower class undesirables work, live, and die silently, forever suffused with trash, crime, pollution, and darkness.

[MikhailKutzow]

Skybridges are interesting, and I can't deny there's some science-fiction romance to them. Though I wonder how practical they will ultimately be. A lot of the examples in the video seem to be very extravagant, high-concept applications. Certainly fun and appealing to look at, but often seemingly of questionable necessity. There's certainly some uses for them. But I find it hard to imagine these being especially practical outside of extremely dense areas, which could benefit from splitting foot traffic up between the ground and higher levels. It would also be necessary to put in place proper legal and social frameworks to make these into public spaces, not private spaces.

[dandaman]

One of the pictures of skybridges was of the Skyway system in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It's a network of semi-public walkways in downtown, mostly on the 2nd floor of buildings. It's much like the Pedway in Chicago, but even more extensive. Cities such as St. Paul, MN and Des Moines, Iowa also have smaller versions of a Skyway system as well. In these cases, it's a start of what you're talking about, but mostly due to the cold winters and a desire to not have to walk outside. When I was in these areas, I definitely found it fun to wander through these buildings and see what I could find.

[fallslikeicarus]

Fun fact! The skybridges of HK shown in 2:40 and 3:26 both cross the same main arterial road and actually connect to eachother via other buildings - in fact many of the shots from HK shown here are all of Hong Kong Island's central elevated walkway, and are connected to eachother via malls and office buildings. And since skybridges in HK count as public space, the malls that connect them must also accommodate for that and remain accessible 24/7 if the mall is the only point of entry. There's a book on it called 'Cities Without Ground' that explores HK's walkways in detail

[cmwHisArtist]

I love the idea of more parks and vegetation on all levels. However sometimes the tendency is to create very boring English garden style areas, repetitive plants, same type of tree every ten feet, all the same flower beds, a bench every 50 feet. They should make totally different vignettes, so that it’s more fun to explore, more random, like nature.

[fruitshuit]

One of the crucial problems that needs to be considered with these skybridges is that if access to these bridges comes via other buildings, this means the entrances and in many cases the bridges themselves are privately owned. The roads (and many other public spaces like parks) on the surface city are the common property of all the citizens, and it's that common ownership that allows us to exercise our rights like free speech and the right to protest.

That cruise ship in the sky, can the owners exclude you if you don't "fit in"? If you look like a bum? If your skin is the wrong colour (even if they'd deny that's the reason)? What if you grab a soapbox and stand on it to preach the gospel, or to share your unpopular political views (left or right)? I might be wrong but I'm guessing you'd be asked politely to leave, then not-so-politely removed. It's of paramount importance that we preserve the right of all citizens to be in the public spaces.

[wardsdotnet]

The problem with this idea is the ground is public but the bridge levels are usually privately owned, which is very exclusive of the less privileged

[Coolkids]

I’m really surprised that the Minneapolis skyway system wasn’t mentioned. Seems like a perfect case study to discuss the pros and cons of a “3 Dimentional” city.

[ImHavingaCoronary]

50 years from now. "How did ground level become a sunless crime den, only populated by the homeless?"

[dju-dju]

The video (very good btw) missed to talk about the sociological and political problems skybridges would create. For example, they would likely create a class division when the wealthy wouldn’t need to go down on the poorest people’s level.

[kattttttt]

Just came back from Asia myself, spent a few weeks in Malaysia and Singapore. Visited both the Patronas and Marina Bay Sands. The sheer scale and engineering skills that goes behind it truly doesn't show itself until you go and see it in person. Interesting video to pop up!

[emdxemdx]

Skybridges can arise from need.
Looking at historical photos of where I live (Montréal), I notice that as industries expanded, they often threw skybridges accross streets, lanes and even rail lines... I can think of at least 4 of them in my neighborhood.
Alas, most of them were removed as those industries closed over the years.
But my father lives in such a building whose skybridge above a lane still stands, and I make a point of walking through it as often as possible...

[klndthu]

I remember in Architectural school in the 90s, the skybridges were shunned. Our teachers taught us that they really didn't work in L.A. Their reasoning was that all of the activity at ground level is now elevated off of the city plane. So what you are left with is a dead zone at ground level. At that time, it didn't have the same amount of residential activity and Downtown was a dead city after work or on the weekends. I think skybridges are cool and all, but then you need to have major security in urban cities. It will be hard for LA though. There is an overpass in Downtown that has visible homeless tents on them. If you drive on the 101, you know where it is. So are these future sky bridges public space? Or are they open to just the residents or tenants of your buildings.

[jayc]

Spokane, WA is a good example of an American city with an extensive, city-wide sky bridge network. Granted, they are pretty basic (no parks, pools, etc) but it’s nice in the Winter or while it’s raining.

[DonLee]

the reason why there are so many sky bridges in hk, is because shopping malls span over several blocks, and nobody wants to walk out of the AC and wait on the corner of a busy intersection to cross the street, on a scorching hot day.