French promenade excellence

Lead architect Dietmar Feichtinger Architects, in collaboration with firms sbp, Buzzo Spinelli, and In Situ Landscape, designed the pathway to unfold like a suspended balcony over the water, following the contours of the coastline.

A reinforced concrete pathway around the Bastia fortress in Corse-du-Sud, France, took home the top award in the seventh annual ACI Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards, which showcased dozens of innovative concrete projects from around the world.

Constructed at the foot of the Bastia fortress on the island of Corsica, the Aldilonda promenade is a sinuous path set into rock, giving pedestrians and cyclists access to 450 meters (1,480 feet) of coastline. It also connects the city’s north and south parts through a tunnel constructed using board-formed architectural concrete.

The project took first place in the flatwork category, with second place awarded to INTEL MLCP Multi-Level Car Park, Karnataka, India. Other projects honored, by category, are High-Rise Buildings, first place, Leopoldo 1201, São Paulo, Brazil; second place, Statue of Belief – Lord Shiva Statue & Allied Works, Nathdwara, Udaipur, India; Mid-Rise Buildings, first place, Deichman Bjørvika, Oslo, Norway, second place, Center for Culture, Arts and Design, Bordeaux, France; Low-Rise Buildings, first place, Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Arizona; second place, Infinity House, Manila, Philippines; Decorative Concrete, first place, The Cave That Travelled, Kerala, India; second place, Acoustically Diffuse and Absorbent Lightweight Aerated Concrete, Oklahoma; Infrastructure, first place, The Darwin Bridges, Montreal, Canada; second place, Viaduct V3 in the duplication of Tamoios Highway, São Paulo, Brazil; and, Repair & Restoration, first place, The Austonian | Exposed Slab Edge Repairs, Texas; second place, Adaptive Reuse at 225 W. Madison, Arizona.

Entries for the 2022 ACI Excellence in Concrete Construction Awards are being accepted now through April 29, 2022.