65TH

STREET

BRIDGE

The Lincoln Center Pedestrian Bridge (The President’s Bridge) is the final element of the Lincoln Center campus–wide transformation. Spanning West 65th Street near Amsterdam Avenue, the bridge provides an alternative to street–level crossing for visitors, artists, students, neighbors, and staff members. Emerging from simplicity of a truss bridge, the bridge keeps its structural and circulation functions separate. While the bearing beam spans the most direct route across the street, the walking surface deviates to the east, directing the flow of foot traffic into the sweet spot of North Plaza, between Lincoln Center Theater and the new Hypar Pavilion. The bridge minimal in nature: structure and cladding are one. The stressed–skin construction is composed of an asymmetrical, closed–cell box girder made up of fully welded steel plates varying from a half inch to one inch in thickness. The upturned cross section is created by a deep beam that doubles as the western guardrail. The L–shaped profile tapers to a knife–edge toward the east, while its outer surface is faceted to reduce mass. The bridge’s stressed–skin steel structure is 83’ long and weighs 58 tons.