Playing Structural Efficiency with Architects

This paper describes the experience of working together with architects in the design of footbridges where aesthetics and structural efficiency are intrinsically linked.

It is quite common to say that the deep understanding of the function and the location (physical and human environment) dictate the form of a bridge. In the specific cases presented in the paper, the particularities of several footbridges where the main advantages of their structural behaviour came from the symbiosis between architectural and structural conception, are emphasized. In some details, it can be said that the aesthetic choices intuited the good structural behaviour. As in other cases, it was the structural optimization that became the reason of the aesthetic options. Several examples are listed to illustrate this story where global structural response (longitudinal and transversal), static and dynamic behaviour, stiffness and resistance, cross section definition and structural material choice are discussed.

Aesthetics of the given examples result from architectonic concepts that reflect structural demands and physical laws and that aim at optimized structures.

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