By Christian Gentry & Stas Karmalyk

The Urban Bridge is a mediator between the tops of high rises and the ground below. High rise housing units today are cut off entirely from the city below. The urban fabric of cities exists almost entirely on the ground. If a person lives at the top of a high rise, it requires a large amount of effort to descend to the ground and enter the city. By bringing the life and fabric of the city up to the tops of existing towers, a new inhabitable city typology is formed. This Urban Bridge extends the city and nets together existing structures to create floating world. By simply adding more housing units to the tops of towers, the polarization between sky and ground becomes even more apparent. However, if the housing is plugged in to a raised urban fabric then new architectural opportunities present themselves for exploration. The Urban Bridge is the solution to the current division between ground and sky, and could be implemented in cities all around the world to enhance their urban fabric.​

Metsä Wood challenged architects and students around the world to push the boundaries of modern wood building design in the urban environment. Entrants from 40 countries created their Plan B to urbanisation using wood (Kerto® LVL – laminated veneer lumber) as the main material. The task was to design a wooden extension to an existing urban building. The entries were designed to 69 cities worldwide.