As part of the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea Opportunity Area Planning Framework, London's Borough of Wandsworth has its sights on constructing a new pedestrian bridge across the River Thames, between the two very distinct districts of Nine Elms and Pimlico. Quite evidently, the teams currently in the Nine Elm to Pilmico Bridge competition aren't holding back their imaginations.

Launched this past December, the competition invited multidisciplinary teams worldwide to conjure up a design concept that would serve as a basis for the final design of the bridge for construction -- if the project even gets to that point. The competition organizers state on their website that they're not looking for a specific design, but rather the best team that shows the strongest capability of designing the landmark bridge.

Out of the 74 schemes from Stage One, we picked out a few that caught our attention:

↑ Scheme 70

↑ Scheme 60

↑ Scheme 62

↑ Scheme 04

↑ Scheme 43

↑ Scheme 08

↑ Scheme 80

↑ Scheme 10

↑ Scheme 29

↑ Scheme 06

↑ Scheme 87

↑ Scheme 83

↑ Scheme 22

↑ Scheme 66

↑ Scheme 85

The Jury Panel -- chaired by Graham Stirk of Rogers Stirk Harbour -- focused on technical awareness and design innovation, among other strict criteria in the first stage. For Stage Two, the shortlisted teams will be paid an honorarium to further develop their concepts for the actual site, and will work with the client, key stakeholders, and communities from both sides of the river. The broader community can learn more about the project in the public exhibitions during both stages, or share feedback in this survey.

As of now, the bridge has a projected overall capital budget at around £40m. The winning team will be announced in July.

Find the rest of the Stage 1 entries here. Read the full competition brief here.