Interview about Hydro Bridge, winner of the A' Engineering, Construction and Infrastructure Design Award 2025
Hydro-Bridge is a versatile transportation hub spanning the Nakkhu River in Chyasikot, Nepal. It adapts to seasonal shifts, functioning as a pedestrian and light vehicle bridge in dry months and converting into a water storage system and secure campsite during the monsoon. Blending infrastructure with public space, the design prioritizes environmental resilience, sustainability, and community needs while harmonizing with the natural landscape.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsHydro Bridge was born from an intimate understanding of Nepal’s climatic dualities—months of parching dryness followed by periods of intense monsoon flooding. The site in Chyasikot, located along the Nakkhu River, frequently shifts from arid land to a forceful waterway, creating seasonal instability that affects both mobility and public life. I recognized an opportunity to not only respond to this challenge but to harness it. The idea was to create a structure that could evolve with the seasons rather than resist them—a bridge that serves its community year-round, adapting like an organism to its environmental context. In dry seasons, Hydro Bridge operates as a pedestrian and light-vehicle crossing, connecting fragmented neighborhoods. In the rainy season, the same space transforms into a pier-like structure that collects, stores, and even distributes water through an integrated rain-harvesting system. This approach turns a vulnerable geography into a resilient, multifunctional landscape that celebrates adaptation as a design ethos.
Parametric design allowed me to engage in an iterative dialogue between form, function, and environmental responsiveness. Working with Grasshopper and Rhino, I generated a matrix of bridge geometries that responded to specific inputs: span length, seasonal flow volume, pedestrian circulation, water catchment needs, and material constraints. These algorithms helped identify optimal forms that performed both structurally and environmentally, minimizing material use while maximizing utility and visual clarity. The 7-meter height was not arbitrary—it emerged as the minimum elevation required to withstand floodwaters during peak monsoon season, and parametric modeling allowed us to test how various elevations affected shadow patterns, airflow, and drainage behaviors. The resulting arched profile—part bridge, part canopy—would not have been possible through traditional methods alone. Computational tools made it possible to synthesize engineering logic with a sculptural form that feels both grounded and elevated within its natural setting.
This multifunctional concept stemmed from extensive research during the early design phase. I learned that during heavy rains, many homes are temporarily vacated due to flooding, and safe public shelters are extremely limited. Rather than designing a single-use bridge, I began to envision it as a civic structure—a protective infrastructure that could become a haven. The arched canopy and reinforced flooring system were adapted to allow for elevated dry areas during flood conditions. Integrated storage benches, power-access points, and filtered light through the translucent roof all support basic shelter functions. It became not just a piece of infrastructure but a space for dignity, connection, and survival. By embedding emergency-use scenarios into the everyday design, Hydro Bridge empowers the community to reclaim control over the uncertainties of their environment and fosters a sense of preparedness embedded in the very landscape they inhabit.
The water collection system evolved through multidisciplinary research involving hydrology, vernacular water management practices in Nepal, and low-tech sustainability strategies. I started by mapping rainfall data across different seasons and analyzing roof angles and runoff coefficients to calculate potential collection yields. The design team and I conducted site studies and observed how traditional Nepalese homes used sloped roofs and earthen channels to redirect water into clay cisterns. This local wisdom became a foundation. I then designed the roof of Hydro Bridge using translucent, shatter-resistant glass panels embedded with microgrooves that channel rainwater into a central gutters. These, in turn, feed into modular storage tanks beneath the bridge deck. The glass panels serve a dual purpose—they allow daylight to penetrate during the day and become a lightbox at night when lit from below by embedded solar-powered LEDs. This combination of passive technology and traditional logic ensured the design stayed ecologically responsive without becoming overly reliant on external infrastructure.
The surrounding landscape—terraced hillsides, braided rivers, and foot-worn paths—was not just context but material in shaping the design language. Rather than impose a foreign object on the site, I wanted the bridge to feel like an extension of the land, much like the stone staircases and retaining walls crafted by hand over generations. I drew inspiration from the way these traditional elements express simplicity and tactility. The bridge’s structure adopts a subtle curvature echoing the river’s natural flow, while its materials—concrete, local stone, and glass—were selected for their durability and regional familiarity. The underside of the bridge references traditional wooden eaves with rhythmic framing members that soften the visual mass and frame views of the river below. Even the way people cross the bridge mirrors the quiet, unhurried pace of the village trails. Ultimately, Hydro Bridge stands not as an interruption but as a poetic continuum of Chyasikot’s relationship with nature, time, and place.
Hydro Bridge emerged as a direct response to Chyasikot’s need for resilient, flexible infrastructure that could adapt to Nepal’s dramatic seasonal shifts. From the earliest stages, it was clear that no single discipline could address the project's complexity in isolation. The core design team included myself as the lead architect, structural engineers specializing in lightweight spans, and a local hydrologist familiar with the Nakkhu River basin.We began with a shared mapping of the river’s behavior—hydrologists contributed flow models, floodplain studies, and seasonal projections. That data informed the basic envelope of the bridge, setting parameters for safe elevation and anchoring systems. Structural engineers then stepped in to propose a space truss system, which offered both the lightness and strength required for the span, and the flexibility for integrated drainage and modular adaptation. Meanwhile, we worked together to create roof geometries optimized for water collection and daylighting, ensuring the bridge could act both as infrastructure and public shelter.
At its core, Hydro Bridge is not just a means of crossing—it is a place of gathering. In dry seasons, the bridge is a civic promenade, with shaded walkways, seating ledges, and framed views of the riverbanks. It's where people pause, talk, observe, and occasionally host small community events or pop-up markets. The structure was intentionally designed with a slower, more deliberate rhythm of circulation to invite these kinds of interactions. We used locally inspired spatial proportions to give it a familiar sense of scale and comfort.During monsoon season, the transformation is equally significant. Elevated walkways ensure continued access even during flooding, while dry platforms beneath the canopy become informal refuge spaces. The bridge’s lighting, powered by solar panels, offers a rare sense of safety and visibility during storms, encouraging people to treat the structure as a safe harbor, not just a corridor. By embodying both infrastructural necessity and communal identity, Hydro Bridge becomes a flexible platform for both survival and social life, proving that public design must support not only functional movement but emotional connection.
The integrated water collection and storage system within Hydro Bridge offers a low-tech but high-impact solution to an ongoing resource issue in Chyasikot. During monsoon, large amounts of rainwater are often lost to runoff due to limited infrastructure. We designed the bridge to act like an elongated rain-harvesting roof. Its glass canopy is embedded with micro-grooves that channel water into a network of concealed gutters, which feed into modular storage tanks located beneath the walking deck and adjacent landscape.These tanks are accessible through simple filtration spouts, allowing the stored water to be used for agricultural irrigation, community cleaning, or even small-scale emergency supply. Because the tanks are modular, their capacity can be scaled depending on future needs. In a community where reliable infrastructure is rare, this passive collection system offers water security with almost zero energy input. It also educates the community through visibility—people can see how their bridge is not just spanning a river but actively stewarding the watershed.
The key to Hydro Bridge’s adaptability lies in its space truss system—a triangulated structural framework that distributes loads efficiently while allowing the bridge to remain light and open. This truss system is composed of modular steel members designed for on-site assembly, which minimized disruption to the natural landscape and simplified maintenance.What makes this space truss unique is its double-functionality. Not only does it provide structural stability for a 7-meter-high span, but it also creates cavities within the bridge’s body for storing water tanks, lighting conduits, and even emergency supplies. The truss is clad with prefabricated floor panels and translucent glass roofing that can be replaced independently if damaged, allowing the bridge to be partially disassembled and updated over time.Moreover, the bridge’s decking is designed with a slotted drainage system that channels overflow rainwater away during heavy storms, preventing pooling and maintaining structural integrity. Together, these technical strategies make the bridge a living infrastructure—able to breathe with the seasons rather than fight them.
Hydro Bridge represents a shift in thinking—from static infrastructure to adaptive, community-oriented ecosystems. Its core principles—seasonal responsiveness, multifunctionality, and human-centric design—can serve as a blueprint for future projects in regions vulnerable to climate volatility.Instead of designing one-use bridges, roads, or shelters, we should ask: Can this structure evolve? Can it offer more than one function? Can it help communities prepare for uncertainty, not just respond to it? Hydro Bridge shows that with the right tools—parametric design, local consultation, and integrated sustainability—we can create infrastructure that anticipates change, rather than being crippled by it.For regions across South and Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Latin America, where monsoons, droughts, and economic limitations intersect, the Hydro Bridge model suggests that resilience doesn’t need to be high-tech or expensive. It just needs to be attuned to place, adaptable to use, and rooted in the lives of people it serves.
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