Gymnasium Bridge, project, New York City, New York, Plan, site plan, and exterior perspective

Steven Holl

1977

A graphite drawing by Steven Holl proposing a gymnasium bridge in New York City that imagines an elevated athletic building spanning landscape and water to explore how program can be suspended and experienced.

At first glance meticulous graphite hatching and a plan-plus-perspective composition present a long, horizontal bridge with a rotated arm and central circular hub that reads like a floating machine cutting across a dark, textured terrain.

The project exemplifies late-1970s architectural experimentation in which evocative hand drawing became a design tool to stage procession, program, and landscape—anticipating Holl’s interest in poetic infrastructure and the experiential section.

Palette

Art Terms

Architectural drawing Drawing Graphite Plan drawing Section drawing Perspective Architecture Built environment

Exhibitions

Architecture in the New York Area

1952

Modern Architecture for the Modern School

1942

The New City: Architecture and Urban Renewal

1967

Built in USA: Post-War Architecture

1953