SEGD Design Awards: I Want to Ride My Bicycle

P-06 Atelier earned double accolades for its environmental-graphic development for Bikeway Belém, an approximately 4.5-mile-long bike trail that runs parallel to the Tagus River in downtown Lisbon. Gusmão said, in addition to providing wayfinding guidance to cyclists, the firm sought “to energize the urban spaces that it traverses.”

P-06 collaborated with the Global Landscape Architecture to develop bold, white wayfinding symbols and typography. Electroestúdio fabricated two types of sidewalk graphics; metal incisions that were subsequently filled in with asphalt to provide a sense of permanence, and standard painting over metal stencils. He said Electroestudio used asphalt-filled incisions over existing paths, and standard stencils overly newly covered roadway sections.

P-06 enhanced the system with a graphic interplay that unfolds along the Bikeway Belém path. Under a bridge support, the design team incorporated onomatopoeia that conveys the bridge’s traffic sounds. Along a pier that juts into the Tagus, a verse by Portuguese poet Alberto Caiero expresses his love for the river.
The judges effused praise: “Every community should have a bike, walking or running path that’s so bold, clear, fun and engaging.”