Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is designing Gelephu Mindfulness City, a proposed development in southern Bhutan whose bridges are intended to do more than carry people across rivers. The firm envisions them as connections between neighborhoods and natural areas, with civic and cultural spaces built into the infrastructure. BIG lists the project as “In Design”; the bridges are proposals, not completed structures.
What is Gelephu Mindfulness City?
Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC) is a proposed masterplan for Gelephu in southern Bhutan. BIG names the Kingdom of Bhutan as its client and describes a development shaped by rivers, landscape, and neighborhood connections. The project is not a single bridge or building: its planned infrastructure and public spaces are part of a broader urban design.
The published area figures do not agree. BIG describes the masterplan as covering more than 1,000 square kilometers on both its project page and in its Bhutan studio announcement. The Holcim Foundation’s 2025 project profile gives 70 million square meters, or 70 square kilometers. The available accounts do not explain whether they use different boundaries, phases, or plan versions, so the discrepancy remains unresolved.
Why are bridges central to the plan?
BIG says 35 rivers cross the site, making connections between neighborhoods and the surrounding landscape a defining design problem. That river count is the architect’s description, not an independently audited geographic figure. The firm proposes a series of inhabitable bridges that would join urban and natural environments while serving transport and public life.
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Rather than treating a bridge only as a road span, BIG describes these structures as cultural landmarks combining transport infrastructure with civic facilities. In the firm’s words, the ambition is “Turning engineering into art and turning the forces of nature into power.” These are design intentions, not evidence of completed or independently assessed facilities.
What would the proposed bridges include?
Connections for movement and public life
The masterplan describes links for public and vehicle transport as well as pedestrians. BIG’s proposal gives the bridges a civic role alongside that mobility function, so they are intended to connect people to facilities and public spaces as well as across waterways.
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A bridge designed around hydropower and landscape
BIG describes a planned final bridge as a hydroelectric dam with a stepped retaining landscape. The design includes viewpoints, walking routes, and a temple. These features are part of the firm’s concept; the available project information does not establish that they have been built or provide measured operating results.
How does the masterplan respond to rivers and monsoon conditions?
BIG describes paddy fields along rivers as a way to protect existing and future development from monsoon flooding. The proposed layout also shifts from more dispersed development in the north toward larger urban footprints in the south. Together, these choices present the landscape and water system as part of the plan’s organizing infrastructure, rather than as constraints addressed only after buildings are placed.
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The Holcim Foundation’s profile describes additional environmental and material strategies: locally sourced bamboo, timber, and stone; passive design and monsoon protection; photovoltaic panels and hydropower; ecological corridors, including elephant migration paths; and urban agriculture and water-sensitive landscaping. These are reported project features and intentions, not verified environmental outcomes.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is the project’s current status?
BIG’s project page lists GMC as “In Design.” The Holcim Foundation’s 2025 profile describes it as being in the “Detailed Design Phase” and reports that it received the Foundation’s 2025 Asia Pacific regional award. The Foundation’s jury calls the vision conceptual and notes that implementation details are limited. The award recognizes the proposal; it does not establish that construction is underway or that anticipated benefits have been measured.
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The available project accounts do not establish a construction schedule, financing, delivery date, or final site boundaries. For now, the bridges are best understood as a central part of a large-scale design proposal whose ambition is to combine mobility, civic uses, landscape, and water management.
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