The 'Chained' Bridge (Attractive Structures at Reasonable Cost?)

Drawing from 18 years of bridge design experience, ten bridge design competition victories and some 50 bridge designs, I would like to reflect on some of the thoughts and worries that have been influencing my design work. Traditionally bridges, and this includes footbridges, were among structures that used materials most efficiently, and they all, with very few known and notable exceptions, stood up and worked. Their designers may not have had artistic talents and/or so declared ambitions but they knew what made sense. Some of these bridges are now considered artefacts of outstanding beauty and are listed among the key achievements of our material heritage. Fin de Siecle of the 20th Century and the first 10 years of the 21st Century saw a proliferation of eye catching but inefficient structures delivered to satisfy egotistic agendas of clients and their designers. It is difficult to escape the feeling that technological and computational advancements were abused, and rational design sacrificed on the altar of short lived media gratification. Competitions, while essential to the progress and to exchange of ideas, also stand accused of promoting frivolous, illogical solutions for the sake of visual curiosity and misconceived media-worthiness. One day we may finally see a client suing a competition jury for selecting a design that is inadequate and/or not affordable. From the recently built, or yet to be built, bridges I have selected a small sample of designs that in my view can be seen as good examples, and also some that I do not feel positive about. I hope to stimulate a discussion, and to this end I am including also the openable Copenhagen Inderhavnen Bridge, designed by Studio Bednarski and Flint & Neill, with Hardesty-Hanover, and Speirs and Major.

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