This contemporary habitable bridge in Italy was designed by architects Philippe Rizzotti, Vermet Tanguy, Manal Rachdi, and Samuel Nageotte. The project received the first prize of the Solar Park South International Competition.

The bridges allow a limited impact on the landscape. The local culture of Bergamotte, Italy demonstrates the region’s perfectly tempered weather (8°-30°C), and the volcanic area reveals a high energy potential. The climate and the site inspire vertical villages for the european snowbirds (housing/medical equipment/entertainment/shops) that are connected by walkways to the sea and highways to the cities. The system is autonomous regarding the main resources water and energy thanks to the rainwater and the geothermal power.

This contemporary archeology (the bridge over the bridge) results in a process where urban falls meet the climbing nature. The vertical privacy of the inhabited piles supports the horizontal sociability of the public equipped decks, while providing a unique view for each one, at every level. The combination between the infrastructure and the environment is efficient enough to establish a new responsible high quality way of living.

The concept consists in volumizing the bridge. In order to colonize the piles we improve their inertia with a tense spiral encircling them at a 2m offset. Then a horizontal structure surrounding the pile creates aerial plots to welcome the housing program. The decks are thickened to support three levels of public spaces, landscape and technical flows.

The project collects 45,000 m3 of rainwater through the use of decks, produces gas from organic waste methanisation, and produces electricity through a geothermal plant from hot dry rock technology.