The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) recently announced the winners of the London Bridge 800 Ideas Competition:

1st Prize – Laurie Chetwood, Chetwoods, London

Laurie Chetwood, Chetwoods, London

2nd Prize – Lawrence Friesen, GenGeo, Ilona Hay, London

Lawrence Friesen, GenGeo, Ilona Hay, London

3rd Prize – Ryszard Rychlicki, student, Poznan, Poland

Ryszard Rychlicki, student, Poznan, Poland

Organized on behalf of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects (WCCA), a Livery Company of the City of London, the competition marks the 800th anniversary of the opening of the first London Bridge in 1209AD. The competition invited today’s designers to imagine a new version of the inhabited bridge. 

The competition received an exceptional response with a total of 73 entries received from architects and students of architecture from all over the world. Submissions came from the UK, Europe and as far afield as the USA, Argentina, China, Hong Kong and South Africa.

The judging panel, which included Richard Saxon CBE, journalist Peter Murray, Colette O’Shea of Land Securities, and Ian Head, Master of the WCCA, described Laurie Chetwood‘s scheme as ‘beautifully presented, wildly imaginative and a unanimous first choice’.

Here are some more London Bridge 800 competition entries:

Abdel Saadi, Keith Harbinson, WDR & RT Taggart

Chris van Niekerk, The Fold Architecture

Jonathan Schwinge, Corinna Simon, Schwinge and Simon

Peter Sebes, Marta Fritsch

Rocker-Lange Architects

Ruben Eduardo Gomes, Marcal Lica

Images: RIBA