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ZUS: The Luchtsingel

Decades after their separation, the 400 meter long pedestrian bridge designed by ZUS – the world’s first piece of public infrastructure to be accomplished mostly through crowdfunding – has reconnected three districts in the heart of Rotterdam.

Decades after their separation, the 400-meter-long pedestrian bridge has reconnected three districts in the heart of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

The Luchtsingel was initiated and designed by the Rotterdam-based architects ZUS and is the world's first piece of public infrastructure to be accomplished mostly through crowdfunding. Together with the new public spaces, including the Delftsehof, Dakakker, Pompenburg Park, and the Hofplein Station Roof Park, a “three-dimensional cityscape” has arisen.

ZUS devised the Luchtsingel plan in 2011. In 2012, as co-curators of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR), the station area was renamed Test Site Rotterdam. It consisted of eighteen interventions, all connected by one continuous route: the Luchtsingel. For financing, the “I Make Rotterdam” crowd founding campaign was started; for €25 anyone could buy a board inscribed with their name, and over 8000 boards were sold. In 2012, the Luchtsingel won the Rotterdam City Initiative, which enabled further financing of the project.