The Stitch - Reconnecting the City

In the twentieth century, coal mining erased Most’s historic old town and left a barrier of railway, tram, road and river between the city and Lake Most. Our competition entry where we collaborated with DeSimone Engineers, proposes a new footbridge and cycle bridge to reconnect them.

The bridge is conceived as an elegant mechanism, echoing the draglines and conveyors of the former mine, that draws city and landscape back together. On the museum side, a car-free threshold and a re-focused Brewery Park, with improved planting and public realm, set the scene before the crossing begins. Separate pedestrian and cycle decks converge and diverge across two spans. They meet at a circular node at mid-span and arrive at a belvedere above the river, a place to pause between city and lake.

On the lake side, a re-greened, re-wilded park replaces the legacy of mining. At its heart, a “green cathedral” forms a clearing that recalls the church that once stood at the centre of the old town. It creates new squares within the old town’s footprint, with avenues leading to a pier that connects the park to the water. Swales, rain gardens and native planting manage water and cool the landscape, bringing everyday life back to ground that was once lost.