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Elevated Light Rail Transit wins WAN Award 2023

Our innovative concept for an Elevated Light Rail Transit system (ELRT) in South-Korea has now won the prestigious international WAN Awards! The project won gold in the category Future Projects Transport. Commissioned by the South Korean Railroad Research Institute (KRRI), architectural studio ZJA, Woosung D&C, C&SC, GS E&C, SIDstudio and Iv-infra came up with an above-ground solution for an  elevated light rail track in a packed city environment, with less spatial impact than the traditional design. 

Rob Torsing (architect-partner ZJA) says, “Our team is greatly honoured with the WAN Award 2023 for our concept for the Elevated Light Rail Transit. It is a recognition for an innovative solution that has the potential to have a big positive impact on the liveability of cities. Economically viable, elegant and sustainable. A design for a futureproof environment.”

Innovative structural concept

The innovative structural concept of the Elevated Light Rail Transit makes a maximum span possible, while being extremely strong and dimensionally stable. The solution was found in a slim design with a limited construction height, based on the principle of the I-beam profile. 

The use of a central beam between the tracks, with flanges cantilevered outwards, makes it possible - even at places where the structure is around fifteen metres high - to extend the distance between columns to 200 metres without the need for extra stays or cables.

Elegant design and liveability

Strong, able to retain its shape and giving passengers a completely open view on one side, the design features transparency and spaciousness, reduces traffic congestion, and leaves room for pedestrians and green space. The network resembles a tendril and its light and animated volume winds across the metropolis at a great height. 

An asset to the city, and to the people who live, work and travel in it. Does this sound like a dream? A full-scale 40-meter sample and several scale models have already passed their first tests for stability, and for resistance to wind load and to earthquakes.

The World Architecture News (WAN) Awards were created to recognize outstanding architecture on an international scale. This year the jury praised our design for the ELRT as: “A clear and superbly simple and elegant conceptual design for an elevated railway.”

In previous years, a number of ZJA projects have already won prizes; Kunstwerk Katwijk (2016); the Lightrailstation in The Hague (2017) and Diamond Exchange Capital C Amsterdam (2021).

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