Auckland bridge wins prestigious international award

Point Resolution Bridge.

A bridge linking Auckland's Parnell Baths to the waterfront has won a prestigious international award.

The Point Resolution Bridge has won this year's International Architecture Award, which honours cutting-edge design.

Architectural firm Warren and Mahoney designed the new bridge that replaced the original 1930s footbridge that linked Tamaki Drive and the Parnell Baths.

The bridge was conceived as a series of three sculpted arches that support a pedestrian deck.

Local artist Henriata Nicholas designed a pattern that uses pungarungaru designs to depict the ebbs and flows of movement through water and movement of traffic through and over the structure.

The pattern is engraved on the concrete beam as well as the glass balustrade.

The award is jointly run by Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

Mayor Len Brown said the bridge was "a stunning combination of hard infrastructure and creative excellence".

The new bridge opened in May last year and cost about $3.5 million.

The project followed an engineer's recommendation that both sections of the old bridge, which spanned the main trunk railway line as well as Tamaki Drive, needed urgent replacement for safety reasons.