For the City of Marco Island’s invited design competition, SGA developed a concept for the replacement of the Smokehouse Bay Bridge, which had reached the end of its design life. In addition to fulfilling the city’s goals of providing pedestrian access beneath the bridge and connecting to the adjacent park and Bay Walk, SGA proposed a butterfly tied-arch design that creates a striking gateway for travelers arriving by automobile.

The bridge’s functional requirement to carry a range of utilities across the bay inspired a creative solution: incorporating structural glass elements to introduce transparency and filter daylight into the pedestrian passageways below. The design draws on the natural forms found throughout the Marco Island environment—sailboats, birds, and fish—serving as the conceptual foundation for both the bridge’s structural expression and its architectural character.