I receive a lot of letters, via both snail mail and email, from readers of my books and articles, and much of the correspondence comes with enclosures or attachments containing images of artistic, beautiful, clever, dramatic, elegant, fantastic, and sometimes just downright zany designs. What they all seem to have in common is that the sender of the image wants to share the joy of having come across some device, structure, or system that brings a smile to the face. There is just something about a good design that makes you feel proud to be part of the ever-creative and astounding human race.
Many of my correspondents are avid travelers, and they send me photos from around the world. Several of these peripatetic design enthusiasts are as enamored as I am of beautiful bridges, which I consider examples of pure engineering design, or, as the structural engineer, Princeton professor, and structural critic David Billington would term it, structural art. Unlike buildings, which hide their engineering behind architectural facades, bridges tend to lay bare their structural design features. The lines by which forces are directed and transferred are exposed and open to admiration, exploration, and fascination.
Among the most elegant and daring bridge types are the suspension and cable-stayed designs. Suspension bridges are said to have had their origins in hanging vines, but modern examples are made of steel. As high as skyscrapers their towers soar, supporting suspension cables that drape gracefully over, between, and beyond them, held in place by monumental anchorages.
The roadway of such a bridge can appear to be but a ribbon of steel hung from the cables, and in the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge -- Japan’s outstanding example of the genre -- the main span alone stretches over a mile between the towers. The Brooklyn and Golden Gate bridges, the latter of which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, are among the most iconic of suspension bridges, and they are truly things of beauty. But my far-flung correspondents have sent me pictures of lesser-known spans that rival even these American designs, and I am always happy to have my vocabulary of bridges expanded.
A more recent type is often confused with the suspension, and that is the so-called cable-stayed bridge. This clever alternative arose in its modern form in the wake of World War II, when the superstructure of many a destroyed European bridge lay in the water beside its piers. It became a design challenge to rebuild on the same foundation a bridge with a superstructure that was lighter than the original but capable of carrying a heavier load of traffic without overtaxing the old foundations. The cable-stayed bridge form that arose has its roadway supported by multiple cables that stretch directly between it and the towers. The multiplicity of cables allows for a wide variety of patterns, thereby giving the bridge designer a greater freedom in establishing a distinctive appearance. This makes the bridge type popular with communities seeking a signature structure. Such aspirations typically include also the goal of attracting tourists with cameras, and indeed they will flock to see and photograph a distinctive new design.
Bridges are indeed a great example of great engineering combined with great design. I live in the Boston area and was witness to the whole development effort around the Zakim Bridge, which indeed permanantly altered the Boston skyline. It's always amazed me how engineers are not only able to come up with these unique architectural designs, but more critically, buy off the engineering feat to actually bring them to life.
I have been fascinated/terrified by bridges since I was young. My fascination started in high school when we were tasked in a physics class to build a bridge out of dry spaghetti and glue. The test was to see how many bricks our teacher could hang from the bridge before it cracked. I can't remember how many bricks my bridge held, but I do remember drawing designs and working with my dad to test out different ideas.
My love for bridges was indeed renewed the first time I visited San Francisco. Walking along the Golden Gate Bridge was exhilarating.
Of course, there are the awful stories about bridges failing -- Minnesota bridge collapse, the Boston (where I'm from) nightmare called the Big Dig. For this reason, I also hold my breath when driving across these spans.
I would certianly agree that many bridges are interesting and beautiful. I am often more impressed by design of practical things than of objects that are formally called art. If you ever get a chance to look at an integrated circuit under an electron microsocpe you find something incredibly beautiful in its own way.
As for bridges, I had an opportunity to walk inside of post tensioned cast-in-place concrete box girder structure just before it was completed. The spans started from both sides of the river and met in the middle. Getting that right was quite a feat. We were about 200 feet above the river with this ten foot gap in front of us. I was a little scary, but wonderful. Indisde the span were the cables and other structure of the bridge. While few would ever see it, it was intersting in its own way. I'm glad I got a chance to see it.
I'm a little spoiled living in San Francisco. I know the Gold Gate Bridge very well. Watching the construction of the new Bay Bridge is exciting. Some of the engineering feats (eg, buildong a new curved ramp leading the the tunnel, cutting out the old part of the bridge and replacing it with the new piece) have been awesome to watch.
One of my favourite bridges is in Washington state over Deception Pass. It's hard to drive across without wanting to stop. Luckily, there are little parking lots on both ends.
Henry, most of the ancient bridges, buildings and monuments are look very nicely. We have to really appreciate the designs and the brain behind such projects. Lotus building in Australia, Statue of liberty in US, trade center at burgee Dubai, twin tower at Singapore etc are some of the examples for such brilliant works.
Beth, I think among bridges, construction of hanging bridges are harder and require complex structural designs. The entire structure has to be balanced over the hanging rope and the structural engineers has to possess a good set of design skills for weight balancing.
I have always appreciated the design and appearance of the ancient Roman bridges and aqueducts. The Sunshine Skyway in Tampa is one of my favorite cable-stayed bridges.
On vacation in Canada last week I came across the construction site for the new Port Mann bridge in the eastern suburbs of Vancouver. It's a cable-stayed bridge that will replace the old steel arch bridge. The contrast between the two bridges is striking...they are both beautiful and utilize the technology, materials, construction techniques, and aesthetic of their respective eras.
While I know investing in infrastructure has become some what of a political hot button, there is investment in that area at least where I live, close to the Altantic and where a major river criss-crosses at numerous points. We've had a number of bridges close for long periods of time (the inconvenience is another story) to be renovated and while it's not as exciting and sexy as the Golden Gate or some of the new bridge projects referenced, it is worthwhile engineering. Even some of these smaller projects are pushing innovation. Check out this story Ann did on a bridge made with recycled plastics.
Notarboca, what type of bridges you like most. The ancient type with brilliant art work of structural engineers or the modern bridges made of steel and concrete mix. The ancient bridges are of excellent master piece works of great engineers. They built it in a very nice way, without the help of structural engineering tools and software for stability analyzes.
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