Thames Tower. Credit: http://infranetlab.org/blog/2010/01/student-works-trawling-the-thames-fish-n-ships/

Found on InfraNet Lab: The Tower Bridge Seafood Market explores a fictitious urban scenario where direct access to the sea provides the ability for fish farming to become free-ranging. All drawings by Jonathan Blair.

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Gatehead Millenium Bridge at rest. Image Credit: en.wikivisual.com

Gatehead Millenium Bridge elevated. Image Credit: en.wikivisual.com

Designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects and engineered by Gifford.

A tilt bridge is a type of moveable bridge which rotates about fixed endpoints rather than lifting or bending, as with a drawbridge. For this rotation to serve a useful purpose, namely facilitating boat traffic underneath, its deck must follow a curved shape. For this reason, the concept is impractical for vehicular traffic.

The tilting Gateshead Millennium Bridge spanning the River Tyne between Gateshead on the south bank and Newcastle upon Tyne on the north is a pedestrian bridge with two large hydraulic rams at each side that tilt the structure back allowing small watercraft to pass under.

The pedestrian and cycle pathway is an almost-horizontal curve, suspended above the river from a just-beyond-the-vertical parabolic arch. To raise the bridge, this whole assemble rotates as a single, rigid structure. As the arch tilts lower, the pathway rises, each counterbalancing the other so that a minimum of energy is needed.   (Read Article)

Pause/Play Proposal Model. Image Credit by: Lateral Architecture

As described by Lateral Architecture: “The shore edge at the West End Bridge offers the possibility to extend an already existing greenscape and to introduce larger park space along the Ohio River and both a bicycle and walking / running trail that weaves in and out of the a tree-lined shore. A pedestrian bridge completes this broken loop of the city along the three Rivers. This proposal is composed to two primary elements, a hung pedestrian bridge and shore-lined landscape. Both elements take the idea of play, or exercise and movement, in tandem with the idea of pause, or rest and reflection as their basis. Movement routes thicken to allow for a swelling of larger groups or slower movement.
This scheme takes as inspiration the series of arched bridges that populate downtown Pittsburgh and seeks to revision the West End through the addition of a pedestrian bridge. The new bridge hangs from the existing truss through an array of cables and steel outriggers.The new pedestrian bridge does not preference one side of the River over the other. Instead it weaves between sides offering views and pause points to both the east, of the city, and the west, of the landscape beyond.”

Pause/Play Proposal Drawings. Image Credit by: Lateral Architecture

Image Credit: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/to-soar-yes-but-also-to-get-burned/article1411691/

Lisa Rochon recaps what is to come in 2010.

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“In Calgary, all caution was apparently thrown to the wind so that design could be privileged over the formulaic spread of the Albertan metropolis. Santiago Calatrava is a genius of exuberant form and, though his work has become an overworked wow brand, his red-and-white torpedo-shaped pedestrian and bicycle bridge designed to shoot across Calgary’s Bow River is a necessary step toward building the culture of architecture there.”

The City of Calgary explains: “This unique structure will connect the Eau Claire area and Hillhurst-Sunnyside, carrying thousands of Calgarians each day.  Calgary’s downtown is home to over 30,000 residents along with 120,000 employees.  This area continues to grow as 40,000 new residents and over 60,000 additional employees are expected in the downtown area by 2035.” (Read Article)

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Vehicular bridges are a significant type of urban space inaccessible by pedestrians. The conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles on these bridges arise from a bias towards vehicles at the expense of a pedestrian-focused public realm. It is relevant today to develop a clear strategy for the future re-appropriation of existing infrastructure, which would shift the focus from automobile dominance to a pedestrian priority.

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My three main focus topics are:

The relationship between automotive vs pedestrian

Urban Theory Transitions

Re-appropriation/Reuse

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My case study topics are:

Bridge Precedence

1. Inhabitable Bridge

Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy, 1345

Designer: Taddeo Gaddi

Structure: Segmental arch bridge

2. Rail + Vehicle + Cycle + Pedestrian Bridge

Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney, Australia, March 1932

Designer: Dorman Long and Co. Ltd and Cleveland Bridge

Structure: Steel arch bridge

3. Vehicle Bridge

The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, Boston, MA, March 2003

Designer: Christian Menn, Ruchu Hsu, Parsons Brinckerhoff with Miguel Rosales

Structure: Hybrid steel and concrete cable-stayed bridge

4. Vehicle + Cycle + Pedestrian Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, May 1883

Designer: John Augustus Roebling

Structure: Suspension and cable-stayed bridge

5. Cycle Bridge

Champlain Ice Control Bridge, Montreal, Quebec, 1965

Designer: Federal Department of Transportation, Montreal

Structure: Concrete span bridge

6. Cycle + Pedestrian Bridge

Kurilpa Bridge, South Brisbane, Australia, October 2009

Designer: Cox Rayner Architects and ARUP Engineers

Structure: Tensegrity bridge structure

7. Pedestrian Bridge

High Line Bridge, New York City, New York, June 2009

Designer: James Corner Field Operations with Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Structure: Freight train railway system

8. Hybrid Bridge Proposal

Bay Line Bridge, San Francisco, California, not yet realized

Designer: Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello

Structure: Double-decked suspension, truss and cantilever bridge

Video Summary: Total Cost to build bridge $1 Billion (average) As bridge gets older, the value of repair increases.

Pavement develops cracks from vehicle usage and load, water enters cracks reaching the core of the bridge substance creating a mush, pavement gets poured over cracks as temporary fix which actually traps in existing moisture promoting disintegration, new cement develops cracks with time…and the cycle continues…

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What does this mean for these two countries? Economically they say it will cost 3-Billion to build which seems extremely cheap but then again this is just another chip thrown in to the pile of mysteries regarding how the Middle East gets their work done. Maintenance alone should cost more than that.  This is a long stretch of road that will connect two different cites but has the potential of creating terrible traffic congestion, pollution and a long line of floating cars in the sky line and with time those cars may even be suspended within in cloud of exhaust fumes hovering over the water…so much too look forward too!

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The fundamental virtue of a city is that it’s a place where connections happen — social, commercial, logistical, and so on. We could all live Unabomber lives in isolated shacks and humanity would carry on, but that would be an impoverishing choice. Especially if we were all sending each other explosives.

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