STATEMENT
The Fishing Bridge was designed in order to help villagers of Zeng Chu-An rediscovering the identity and history of their place. Through placing this strong iconic symbol of their origin (fishing history) at the entrance of the destination, it invigorated their slowly stagnating cultural tourism, which has been their main economic support over the past decade.
BACKGROUND
Zeng Chu-An village was originated from and had been a traditional fishing village for centuries. Although it has preserved a few of their historical buildings, little hints of its past history related to the sea and fishing culture could be observed.
Sudden influx of young hipsters to the village began in mid 2000s and Zeng Chu-An village quickly became renowned as ‘the most cultural fishing village in China’ attracting thousands of tourists ever since. Yet, the sudden popularity led to tremendous increase of rent that forced most of the hipsters to leave, leaving the village with mostly tourist shops selling identical factory-made souvenirs.
As part of an urban research workshop for Zeng Chu-An village (April 2014) in looking for solutions to keep their economic sustainability, The Fishing Bridge was proposed as the first major development, which subsequently was greatly liked and supported by the locals and approved by the officials.
DESIGN
Rediscovering Zeng Chu-An’s origin as a fishing village, the bridge took reference of the typology of wooden frame structure of traditional fishing boat and also the form of a leaping fish. The Fishing Bridge is constructed to add, if not rebrand, a new iconic attraction and identity of Zeng Chu-An village. Not only can the bridge provide a much safer connection for the only bus station across the 6-lane road, but also draw visitors to the beach, which was often neglected due to the difficulty in accessing previously.
The form of the bridge was constructed out of 32 unique pieces of prefabricated steel ‘bones’ that sit on 3 main spine that a run across the whole bridge, which has a 82m length in total. Both ends of the bridge exist public squares to accommodate the expected high degree of circulation and amount of visitors.
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