The municipal authorities of the Çamlıhemşin district of Rize, a cirt located in the Black Sea Region in Turkey, have built a primary school on the south-eastern side of the Storm Valley (Fırtına Vadisi) that runs though the heart of the district. However, there is no pedestrian access that corsses over the valley nearby the school. In this two-week workshop, we are asked to design a wooden pedestrian bridge that connects the two sides of the valley so that both the schoolchildren and the villagers living in the villages on the north-western side as well as montain hikers can easily access to the south-eastern side.

 

 

The Site
The Storm Valley, located in the Kaçkar Mountains Natural Park, is one of the significant ecosystems in Turkey in terms of wildlife, vegetation geomorphology, preserved by the World Wildlife Foundation. The mountains consist of various types of trees such as chestnut, alder, pine, oak, elm, spruce, beech, hornbeam, etc. The Kaçkar Mountains, 3932 m. above the sea level, is the fourth highest peak in Turkey. The microclimate of the mountains is quite humid, rainy and windy nearly in all seasons. The prevailing winds are direcred in the south-north axis. The Storm River that passes through the valley has an approximate length of 67.5 km. and a flow of 1460 m³  per year. This site is he most narrow part of the valley, with a width of 40m.

 

 

Model Making Process