Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Grand Canal Gateway Bridge
Hangzhou, China
2020 - 2025
Hangzhou CBD Development Group, ltd.
Grand Canal Gateway Bridge
Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Grand Canal Gateway Bridge
Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Grand Canal Gateway Bridge
Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Grand Canal Gateway Bridge
Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Grand Canal Gateway Bridge
Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Grand Canal Gateway Bridge
01
02
03
04
05
Construction of the Grand Canal Gateway Bridge in Hangzhou is now complete. When opened for public use later this year, the footbridge will unite the 800,000m2 Seamless City masterplan under construction on the east and west banks of the Grand Canal. The centrepiece of the city’s new 14.7-hectare River Middle public park and river promenade, the bridge and surrounding masterplan by ZHA reconnects the city with its historic Grand Canal and Qiantang River by integrating homes, workplaces and amenities for its community with vital civic spaces for recreation, leisure and tourism.
A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Grand Canal is China’s most ancient and longest man-made waterway—an extraordinary feat of engineering dating from the 5th century BC—flowing south from Beijing to connect with China’s Yellow and Yangtze Rivers before joining the Qiantang River at its southern gateway in Hangzhou.
The Qiantang River in Hangzhou is renowned for its Silver Dragon, the world’s largest tidal bore, generated by incoming tides from Hangzhou Bay surging upstream, creating waves up to 9 metres high and travelling at 40 km/h. Balancing ecological sensitivity with civic ambition, the bridge’s walkways and plaza provide multiple vantage points, allowing visitors to safely experience the raw power and spectacle of the Silver Dragon’s force of nature.
Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Grand Canal Gateway Bridge
Drawing on the city of Hangzhou’s long-established heritage as a centre of excellence for China’s renowned silk embroidery, the bridge's design reinterprets traditional stitching techniques. Its sinuous structural system weaves, overlaps and binds to support a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists that connects the new residential, civic and commercial districts of Hangzhou’s Seamless City masterplan on the east and west banks of the Grand Canal.
Optimised through advanced digital 3D modelling to minimise material usage, the Grand Canal Gateway Bridge employed prefabricated modular construction with efficient on-site assembly to eliminate waste. The bridge’s construction strategy was specifically designed to shorten build time and minimise disruption to river traffic on the Grand Canal, currently used by 100,000 barges each year to transport 260 million tons of cargo sustainably within China.
Using locally sourced materials and low-impact finishes, the project supported regional manufacturing and fostered sustainable construction through collective expertise. Powered by banks of batteries charged throughout the day by renewable energy, integrated LED lighting illuminates the bridge at night.
Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Grand Canal Gateway Bridge
Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Grand Canal Gateway Bridge
Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Grand Canal Gateway Bridge
Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Grand Canal Gateway Bridge
01
02
03
04
The 390-metre-long bridge is a steel, tied three-arch system, its geometry is precisely engineered to address the weak ground conditions at the confluence of the Grand Canal and Qiantang River. Preventing the powerful wind forces that blow inland from the river transferring to the sensitive historic site, the design reduces secondary bending, ensuring stability and minimising lateral forces within the foundations. By harnessing steel’s high strength-to-weight ratio, the bridge is significantly lighter than concrete alternatives, enabling the most efficient fabrication and installation processes.
Designed to consolidate all forces—including torsion from the deck—and deliver them in balance to its bearings, the bridge lands on a sculpted concrete pier within the island separating the canal’s north and south waterways, halving the required spans to cross the canal while providing structural equilibrium and visual coherence.
Uniting cultural heritage with 21st century engineering and recyclable materials, the Grand Canal Gateway Bridge is both sculptural and sustainable, designed for longevity with minimal environmental impact.
Transport & Infrastructure
From an airport that sets new standards for service to a state of the art flood defense system that doubles as a public promenade, discover our latest transport and infrastructure projects.
Render by X-Universe
Phase One of the new Bishoftu International Airport (BIA) will serve 60 million passengers a year. Further phases will serve up to 110 million passengers annually with four runways and parking for 270 aircraft.
ZHA's design draws from Lithuanian cultural heritage, incorporating traditional motifs and art forms within a contemporary architectural language. The terminal's modular geometry originates from the rhombus, a triangular shape that holds significant meaning in Baltic folklore.
A large-scale urban regeneration project in Naples that reconnects the city’s fragmented urban fabric and incorporates the new Campania Region headquarters.
Render by Tecma Solutions
The world’s first green hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for the recreational boating industry will be initiated in 25 Italian marinas and ports with stations designed by ZHA.
Render by Negativ
Repurposing an existing shipping warehouse built in 1960 into a new 20,000 sq. m ferry and cruise ship terminal, ZHA’s design adds a fourth level to the structure to incorporate public terraces with panoramic views of the Daugava River and the skyline of Riga’s city centre, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Photograph by Fernando Guerra
An enclosed interactive space spanning the River Ebro to form a gateway to the Zaragoza Expo 2008, a hybrid of pedestrian footbridge and exhibition pavilion. Four structural elements correspond to specific spatial enclosures, which intersect and brace each other. This fluid, dynamic design interprets the Expo’s theme: ‘Water and Sustainable Development.’
Photograph by Xue Liang 薛亮
Jiangxi River Bridge
The first in a series of bridges on Chengdu’s West Line Road, the new 295-metre Chengdu West First Bridge crosses the Jiangxi River, a tributary of the Tuojiang River in China’s Sichuan province.
Render by Atchain, courtesy of ZHA
The three new stations (Teatralna, Tsentralna and Muzeina) designed by ZHA will connect the residents, businesses, cultural and academic institutions in Dnipro’s eastern districts with the city centre and the Dnipro-Holovnyi railway terminus.
Courtesy of ZHA, render by Negativ
ZHA’s ‘Green Connect’ proposal for Vilnius Railway Station creates an integrated transportation hub for the 21st century with new civic spaces enveloped by nature
Photograph by Werner Huthmacher
Alpenzoo Station
‘Shell & Shadow’: a unique architectural language of fluidity inspired by natural ice formations, for stations along Innsbruck’s northern chain of mountains. Lightweight organic roof structures float on concrete plinths, their soft shapes and contours creating an artificial landscape that describes the movement and circulation within.
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
Design and construction of a third gateway crossing linking Abu Dhabi Island to the Gulf south shore. Our two-way four lane highway bridge features cantilevered road decks suspended from symmetrical steel arches, which form a sinusoidal waveform – giving this huge structure its fluid silhouette.
Photograph by Roland Halbe
Completed for the northern terminal of the city’s B tramline, our concept utilises overlapping fields: echoing the energetic movement of cars, trams, bicycles and pedestrians; fusing together to form a constantly shifting but clearly delineated whole. In the car park, floor marks and light posts delineate a ‘magnetic field’.
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
The new rail station at Napoli Afragola is designed as one of southern Italy’s key interchange stations serving four high speed inter-city lines, three inter-regional lines and a local commuter line.
Photograph by Piet Niemann
Located at Niederhafen on the Elbe River between St. Pauli Landungsbrücken and Baumwall in Hamburg, the upgraded 625m river promenade is integral to the modernisation and reinforcement of the city’s flood protection system.
Photograph by Hufton + Crow
KAFD Metro Station will serve as a key interchange on the new network for the Blue Line (Line 1) with the terminus of the Yellow Line to the airport (Line 4) and the Purple Line (Line 6) as well as a skybridge connecting to the local KAFD monorail.
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
keyFacts
awards
people
credits