The El-Kantara Bridge in Algeria: An Early Development of Cantilevering Construction and What we can Learn from its Documentation in Text and Image (1862-63)

Auteur(s):	Tom F. Peters
Médium:	article de revue
Langue(s):	anglais
Publié dans:	Construction History, 2018, n. 1, v. 33
Page(s):	69-82
Abstrait:	Cantilevering, like suspension construction and launching were techniques that appeared with the advent of iron construction. The earliest fully documented example was a combined cantilever and suspension process, the cast-iron El-Kantara arch built 1862-63 by Georges Martin in Constantine, Algeria. Aside from Martin's excessively rare report of 1865 and one comprehensive article 1866 in the Allgemeine Bauzeitung of Vienna, knowledge of Martin's innovative process was forgotten. Martin also produced two known copies of a photographic portfolio that constitutes the second known photographic record of a construction process and the first by a building professional. Twenty-five images, 18 by an engineer and seven by the pioneering photographer Edouard Baldus document the process and supplement Martin's written description. Comparing the work of both photographers reveals their focus: one concentrating on technical information and the other on image aesthetics. The visual and written documentation together provide insight into Martin's thinking and show that Martin, like Turner in building the Kew Palm House 1848, used the 'divide-and-conquer' method of design.

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