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Footbridges Construction

Design

History

Ursula Baus, Mike Schlaich With photographs by Wilfried Dechau

Birkhauser

Basel· Boston' Berlin

Contents

6 About this Book

8 Bridges and Pictures

10 Characterization of the Footbridge C on st ru c li on . lorm , Ili ... t on

14 Parameters and Structural Design

128 Urban Renovation Pl'dc ~ triJn ... R l' C OIHllh-'r

I

148 The Bridge as Interior Space os t

lc-rrain

Pr ut t l t ion from \Vind .tnt! \\\ '.ltIH'I"

158 Covered and Enclosed Bridges

162 The Call for Symbols .\1ill cllll iulll

,lIHI "1 vcnt -."

Brid gl·... vt t r.« t \ttvoti oll .1. .. le-on s"

18 Retrospective

58 Con struction as an Ethical Maxim

70 Taking Lightness to the Limit

104 Experiments In Construction

Bigger, last cr, Further

Prestressed Concrct c l'ost -War and

Wah-r-t h in St avs and Filigree

Structural Hype and its Erkets since till' 1970s

Traffic, Architect and Engineer

the Prohibit ion or Ornament

Cabl« Bridges

82 Stress Ribbon Bridges

100 Dynamics, Vibrations 116 Curved Bridges

180 Play Stations

196 Landscape, Gardens

214

Footbridges

248

References

h)lding, Tilting, Lifting, Turning

Bridges as Garden Orn.mu-nt s

120 Furopean Examples

250

Index

Bridge Designl'rs I{e'luire Mechanical Engineers

Parks and Landscape

255

Picture Credits

192 Loadbearing St ruct ures fo r M oveable Bridges

6

About this Book

In his int ro duct ion to th e 19 84 re pr int of Georg Meh r tens' classic,

Der Deutsche Briickenbau im XIX. Jahrhundert , which was fir st published in 1900 ,

much of a place in ou r selec t ion as th ose deSign ed to delight th e eye with or name nt . But mor e about thi s later .

Er nst Werner com me nte d succi nc tly : "It is the fate of bridges th at

serv e only th e ped estrian sim ply to be overl ooked in th e chrono logy of br idgebuilding." It was not until th e new m illennium that th is began to change somewhat

~

not least becaus e a rema rkabl y large nu mb er of citie s

Approach This book pr esents arou nd

90

footbrid ges in a latent ch ro nology. By

"late nt ", we mean that we have not blindl y foll ow ed th eir exact dat es,

saw th e beginning of a new er a as an occ asio n to poli sh up their imag e

preferring to explain th eir variety in te r ms of more co mp lex relationsh ips

with a "m illen nium br idge". A bibliogr aphi c searc h on th e subjec t of

th at can best be grasped th ematicall y. After all , some ty pes of structu re

bri dges car r ied out in th e German Nati onal Library at th e beginning of

are the result of tech nologic al or scie nt ific developments linked to

20 0 7

re t urned a total of around

2, 5 0 0

publicat ion s. Wh en th e searc h term

particula r per iod s, while other appr oac hes to deSign belon g to ages with a

was rest r ict ed to footbridges, th e cat alogue produced 31 titles, of wh ich a

particular way of expressi ng form . At on e t ime th e engi nee rs are spu r re d

considerable number were bibliog raph ic lists o f essays and articles. T he

on to achieve ever lighter st ru ctu res; at another th e arch itect s re alise th e

huge discr epancy in the results is partly explaine d by the fact that bridges

br idge's effectivenes s as a qua si-hom o eop ath ic me an s of rep airing the

have a gr eat metaphorical and symbo lic value , and thu s appe ar in count-

dam aged townscape, and at yet anothe r th e br idge as a tech ni cal ar tefact

less titles relating to politics and soc iety. The lit erature on footbridges is

is sublima te d to th e aest hetic of an Arcadi an landscape . T he hi st or y of

sparse at an int ernational level too . Apart from th e published pro ceed ing s

foot br idge co nstructio n is th er efor e a prime exam ple of how th e h isto ri es

of two co nfere nces and th efi b gUidelines of

of tec hno log y, ar t and th e world in ge neral overla p , and we wanted to

20 0 5,

no attempt has yet been

mad e to focus exclusively on this sm all and impressively var ied type of str uct ure . With this book , we hop e to have mad e a mod est star t . T he idea of writing a book about bridges that ar e for th e sole use of peopl e on foot - or at m ost on bicycles - excite d us grea tly. We hop e th at

take into acco unt th e complex int erplay bet ween t hem. The speciali st knowledge of the struct ural eng inee r co mes to th e fore in essays that ex plain th e technical aspects in stra ightfor wa rd and under st and able langu age, so th at anybo dy ca n underst and th e aesth eti c

engi nee rs, architect s, land scape ar ch itect s and tow n planner s will find it

poten tial th at is inh er ent in a pa rticular st r uct u ra l deSign . Finally there is

sti mulating , and that the lay reade r will find it ju st as appealing.

a co mpe ndium , listed by location, of a fu rther

We wanted to give as bro ad a view as possible of foot bridge

120

foot bridges th at we had

no space to dis cu ss in detail. We hop e it will provide a sta rting point for

co nstruct ion in Europe without being tied to any cur rent ideology or

rea de rs who want to disco ver more for th em selves aft er t h is fir st glimpse

do ct rine. Br idges that str ive for perfection as structures alone have as

of a fascinating area of bridgebuildin g.

Selection

Acknowledgements

Which bridges should we discuss in greater detail - and for what

To venture upon the first ever study, however limited, of the

reasons? One thorny question followed another. We had no intention of

construction, design and history of any type of structure is a daring, not

hiding the fact that one of this book's authors works for Schlaich

to say crazy, undertaking, and we would never have begun it if we had

Bergermann and Partners, a practice which to date has built more than

not been able to count on assistance from many quarters. For their

50 footbridges, but as a quick glance at the book will confirm, there was

advice and information we would like to thank Jan Biliszczuk, Berthold

no question of using it as a showcase for their work. So it was back to the

Burkhardt, Keith Brownlie, Dirk Buhler, Jurg Conzett, Cornel Doswald,

difficult decisions. We selected bridges of relevance to one or another

Sergej Fedorov, Andreas Kahlow, Andreas Keil, Martin Knight, Jorg

aspect of the relatively short history of the footbridge; bridges that

Reymendt, Jorg Schlaich, Klaus Stiglat, Rene Walther and Wilhelm

appealed to us both (or to one of us, at least); bridges that are unequalled

Zellner. Without the energetic and support and encouragement of

in some way; bridges that could certainly be improved; bridges that

Auyon Roy, Simone Hiibener and Andrea Wiegelmann, this book would

demonstrate courage in construction, astuteness in design, or an

never have appeared in

infallible sense of form. We made a point of seeing all of the bridges

We would also like to thank our knowledgeable translators, Chris Rieser

ourselves (with a few exceptions), as did our photographer, who enjoyed

and Richard Toovey.

our complete confidence. Our selection is necessarily incomplete, subjective and open to argument - completeness was never our aim. We admit that our view,

2007 -

and might not even have made it in

2008.

In addition, our special thanks go to Wilfried Dechau, who discovered many bridges, especially older ones, during his constant travels as our photographer; he would set off on account of one bridge

naturally, is one from the German-speaking countries. We were kept

and come back with seven. During the last few years he has taken new

busy enough just by having to work together as an engineer and an ar-

photographs of almost all of the bridges in this book - a labour whose

chitectural critic: a rare combination, in which agreement is certainly

documentary value to the study of the history of footbridges cannot be

not reached without argument first, but ultimately we succeeded because

overestimated.

we both had the will to make it work.

Ursula Baus, Mike Schlaich, July

2007

8

Kronsforde, bridge over the Elbe-Trave Canal, 1959

This meant t aking up-to -date photographs of as many of the bridges featured in it as poss ible. T he illustrations that the authors had managed to collec t up to that point wer e very disparate , so it was going to be difficult to produ ce a book that would be pleasant t o look at . The idea of starting again from scratc h and giving the book a consiste nt photograph ic identity th er efor e eliminated a lot of problem s at on e st ro ke . It was clear that thi s could onl y be done to a cer tain degree. Trips

to Coimbra and London, for example, turned out to be unn ecessar y, since outstanding ph ot os of th ese bridges had alr eady been tak en by Christian Richters , Nick Wood and James Mor ris . It also seem ed out of proportion to m ake a long trip through Nor way for a few bridges far apar t , when plenty of photos of th em alr eady ex iste d . Not to mention th e problem of time travel : some br idges no long er existed, because they had be en built for special events, and in th ese cases we were fortunate in being able to use photos taken pr eviously by Leo van dcr Kleij and Florian Holzher r. That still left plenty to do, however . All the same , we were not really aware that we had let ourselves in for an almost end less task. I cam e back from every journey with at least twice as many bridges as I had been

Bridges and Pictures

At th e age of IS, with the fir st singl e-l ens reflex ca me ra of my ver y

expec t ing to find on the basis of th e source material. On my trav els, alm ost

own, I naturally took shots of th e area around my parent's hous e. That

every one I talked to about the objects of my inter est had a suggest ion to

included th e bridge across th e Elbe-Trave Canal. I crossed this bridge

make . And so the itinerary became ever longer and, at the sam e t im e,

every day on th e way to school and I could see it from my room . Of

more fruitful. My thanks ar e du e abov e all to Martin Knight and Cornel

course, it would be going too far to say that this was the origin of my

Do sw ald, from whos e ex pe r t ise I ben efited in Engl and and Switzerland.

affinity for bridges . My enthusiasm for looking at bridges through the

Th e mo st ad venturous discovery for me personally was , by th e way,

med ium of photography was (re -)awakened 30 years later on, when I

thanks to Bill and Alison Landale, my bed-and-breakfast hosts in Ellem -

photographed th e Max Eyt h Lake footbridge by Jorg Schlai ch . In [989,

ford, Berwickshir e , without whom I would never, ever, have found th e

this was a welcome and relaxing diversion for me from th e routine of

un commonly delicate and apparently fragil e - yet astonishingly pr acti cal-

conventional archite ct ure photography. I recently revisit ed th e bridge to

suspension bridges across th e River Esk (see p . [98) .

photograph it again for this book (see p . 92) . In spit e of that refreshing int ermezzo, bridges remained an exce ption

It can, on the other hand, be quite frustrating to have to ask for in-

formation in order to find a ce r t ain bridge. It then becomes clear how

in my work. This changed with the building of the Storeba elt (Great Belt)

mu ch people's perceptions of o ne and th e sam e bridge can differ . In

bridge in Denmark : I visit ed th e site many times between [996 and 1998

Maidstone, for example , neither th e name "Millennium Bridge", nor

to record the exciting process of building what was, for a br ief period,

words like "susp ension cabl e", "con cret e" or "ne w" were of mu ch help in

th e susp ension bridge with th e long est fr ee span in the world . I managed

finding out which way to go . Not to m ention th e name of th e bridge 's en-

to get a lot of int eresting shots , some of which were shown in th e briicken-

gineer, Jiri Strasky. Ever yone who we asked direct ed us to a cabl e-stayed

schlag exhibition in 2004,

2000,

and in a photo calendar. They wer e follow ed, in

by a project on th e Traversiner footbridge. This gave me a uniqu e

opportunity to photograph work on sit e in th e Grisons Alps every day for a period of several months. Its immediate results wer e a book and exhibi-

bridge, wh ich , although it was also called the Mill ennium Bridge, had nothing in com mon with the one that I was looking for, except that it, too, crossed th e River Medway - at th e other end of the town . Int ernet route planners are also of limited use , since th eir purpose

tion about the Trav ersiner footbridge. At the same tim e, plans for this

is to give directions to drivers - who have, of course, no need of foot -

bo ok by it s two authors wer e gaining substance, and I gradually came to

bridges. The most reliable sources of information ar e topographic maps,

th e decision that my camera and I should take an activ e part her e too .

but th ey ar e not alwa ys to hand - or, at least, not all of those that ar e

Vagli di Satt a, bridge by Riccard o Morandi. 5 June 2007, 12.20 and 13.27

needed . And even th en , t hey ar c o nly of usc if t hey ar e up -t o -dat e . O ne "" am ple o f th is was th e footb r idge ove r t he Bregenzer Ach r iver near Lan gen a ru l ltu ch . T he se tw o villages lie five kilometres apart, as t he c ro w fI ics. Th e footpath winds alon g th e valley for st ret ches, pet ering o ut in meado ws amo ng herds of co ws. T he older peopl e in t he yill age st ill rem em be r a br idge t hat was th er e wh en th ey wer e child ren . A spri ng flood washed it away one night. But a little bit fu r t her up stream , t hcv tell me , th er e is ano t her o ne like it , ncar Fischbach and Doren - and th at o ne is sti ll sta nd ing. Off I go aga in . My nayigat ion system kn o ws Illan ~'

Fischbachs, but no ne of t hem nea r Bregenz . The faint hop e th at

Illlight find sig npos ts to thi s, th e only bridge in th e vicinit y, pr oyes, as it so oft en has, to be naive. Signposts tell you about places to get to , not \\ a~'s

of get t ing th ere . In ot her word s: th e next villag e , and not a bridge

on o ne of th e ways to it . T he except ion docs proye th e r ule , of co u rse , and o nce , looking fo r a suspe nsion bridge across th e Subersac h nea r Egg, I d id find a signpost t hat said Wire bridge - l.inq enau, T his at least con fir me d th at th e br idge st ill existed and was passable , so th e walk th ere car r ying a heavy cam er a was not going t o be co mplete lv in vain . alt hou gh you never know wh ether it is go ing to be worth th e effort unt il you act uall y get t o th e bridge. O nly th en do yo u sec , if it is an

o n ly o ne hour apa rt, of R iccard o Morand i' s bridge in Vagli d i Sot to ,

old brid ge , how mu ch of it has sur vived and in what co nd it ion - and how

wh ich is set exqu isitely in th e land scap e . Th e fir st , whi ch I took sho r tl y

mu ch it st ill has in co m mo n with th e o r igina l design . Warning signs ad-

befor e a stor m , shows sh im me r ing green wat er th at is as smooth as a

yisin g ped estrian s t o cross o ne at a time ca n be an ind icat io n th at th e

m irror, wh er eas in th e seco nd , taken as it began, th e su rfa ce has becom e

br idge is in its o r igin al state , but this is not necessaril y so . All th at is

matte , cr iss-c r ossed by fin e ripples.

cer tain, in t hat case , is th at it ha s no t been spoi led by in sensiti ve re in fo rceme nt or ren ovati on . The Kettenst eg in Nu rem berg , for exam p -

O ne of th e last journeys th at I mad e for th is bo ok took me to Bilbao in Jun e

2 0 07 .

Upon ente r ing my ho tel ro om , I har dl y believe my eyes.

lc, Illay appc ar t o hang fro m its chains, but it is now suppo r ted in a

Above th e bed hu ng a d r aw ing of an old , asymm et ri cal footbr idge : one

d ifferent way. T he faint -of-hea r t would nevertheless be well advised not

th at I had never see n before , alt ho ugh I had t ravelled to over

to t read heavilv wh en th ey cr oss this parti cul ar bridge. Th at co u ld set it

in th e previou s three yea rs. Did it perh aps cros s th e Ncrvion r iver ? In

swaying and oscill ating badl y - not dangerously so any more, but not

Bilbao ? Wh en ? Where ? I co uld see , as it wer e , th e w rit ing on th e wall :

ever y sto m ach can co pe w ith it. Aft er a taking a fir st look around, I

o bviously, even if severa l ph ot ograph ers wer e to spend a furth er three

check o ut th e bri dge . Go o n it ; look dow n. Walk across. Get dow n off it

years on t h is qu est, t hey woul d st ill encounter u nknown st ru ct ures . Th e

at t he ot her side , if possibl e . See w hat is suppo r t ing it and how - t hen

next sur pr ise came hard o n its heels, wh en I t ra cked down th e place in

wh ere and how th e loads ar e di stributed an d ult im at ely t ran sferred t o

Bilbao where , acco rdi ng to t he hot el sta ff, th e bridge had o nce st ood .

20 0

bridges

t he abutme nts . Fir st I look , th en I t ake t he ph otos. The weat her and th e

W hat I found was an ar ched co ncre te br idge (w hich up t o th en had bee n

light arc im portant fact or s, without a doubt. O n ly on ce , in Maid st one ,

comp letely u nknown t o us) that co nnec te d to t wo differ ent level s o n th e

d id I have to st ifle th e pangs o f co nscience and set tl e for ph ot og raph s

higher bank o f th e riv er in an except ionally clever way (see p. H ) . O f

taken in bad weather. Th er e wa s no sign of an improyem en t and I had a

co u rse , we had m et a bridge of this t yp e before : it see ms lik ely th at th e

plan e to cat ch at Heath row air por t . Even in r ain , the bridge it self m akes

Bilbao bridge was known to Marc Mimram, t o whom we owe th e Pont

a goo d impression , as can be seen o n page 76 .

de Solfer ino in Pari s.

Wh at ever one ph ot ogr aph s, it can only be "sho w n in th e best light" if t he weat her coo pe r ate s. This is clea r to see in two expos u re s, taken

Wilfried D ech au , 20 07

9

Cha racterization

Voce quis salter? Did you want to jump?

Pascal Mercier. v ght Tram to Lisbon

Looking at the history of bridgebuilding as part of architectural

(with all of the consequences that this involves for large-scale bridge

history, we see that today's comparatively distinct and unquestioned

construction), but a human being, whether standing, walking or jumping,

differentiation between footbridges and other types of bridge came about

remains a constant factor in the equation. To this extent, the interplay of

slowly at first, and by no means constantly. The history of footbridges is

technical progress, imagination and functional variety in the case of

linked to that of bridgebuilding in general- sometimes more so, some-

footbridges is open to other influences, which bring forth an inexhaustible

times less - and this is one of the aspects that make it so interesting to

variety of distinctive designs. It is a brief that again and again allows

study the footbridge on its own, as a type of bridge in its own right. In

more to be done than providing a mere footbridge - the degree to which

order to define the characteristics of the footbridge, which of course has

credit for this is due to architects, or structural engineers, or both,

a longer history than the road bridge, we need to look at when its typology

becomes clear only upon examination of individual cases.

began to differ from that of large-scale bridges. This occurred towards the end of the r Sth century, when Enlightenment thought, science, early

What happens on a footbridge, anyway? Not feeling firm ground

industrialization and the increasing importance of the economy

underfoot usually indicates a precarious situation. At the same time, a

stimulated rapid technological and social change, together with a growth

swaying surface, or a narrow pathway, can also produce a shiver of

in mobility and traffic. In the 19th century, advances in transport

excitement when we have to let ourselves in for more or less perceptible

technology began to exert a fundamental influence on bridgebuilding,

oscillations, or glimpses into a yawning abyss. Bridgebuilders have to

with ever-higher standards required for road and rail. These new, high-

live with the awkward fact that people react to oscillations and heights in

performance modes of transport made fresh demands on bridge

very different ways: some may become dizzy with euphoria, while others

construction, in response to which a specially qualified expert in bridge-

may find their knees turning to jelly.

building appeared on the scene

the structural engineer - whose

profession quickly acquired a coherent profile. Footbridges were only indirectly affected by these technological

Footbridges are generally built to satisfy a tendency to laziness, a love of convenience, or a joy in contemplation; whether they cross rivers, streets or valleys, their main purpose is still to shorten the route from

changes and from this point onwards their development took a course of

one place to another. Only in very rare cases is it the thrill of danger, or

its own. After all, trains today may reach speeds of 400 km/h or more

the temptation to be free of the ground, that motivates people to build

and the volume of road traffic may require six, eight, or even ten lanes

them.

12

Characterization

Tarr Steps, Exmoor, earlier than 1000 BC

Maki ng th ese shor tc uts not onl y safe enough even for sleepwalkers,

enginee r s find th em selve s out of their depth, inasmuch as th ey have

but also pleasant to walk across , is an important part of th e bri ef wh en

received far to o little exposure to design-related topics of this sor t

designing a footbridge. Of course, th e basic principle applies : a bridge

during their studies. Mer ely calling upon th e rep eatedly quot ed Vitruvian

should be st r uct urally sound , easy to maintain and che ap . All th e sam e, a

terms utilitas, firm itas and venustas is not of th e slight est help in enriching

lot more can be achi eved by paying attention to cr ite r ia such as an appro-

t he world of contem porary building. Anyone who seriously demands that

priate route , attractive view s, a co m for table environ ment and a memo-

a structure be useful and sta ble and beautiful mak es them selve s as

rable app earance. A footbr idge's balu strades , parapets , hand rails , surfac-

laughable as a politician who , quoting Go ethe , says that Man is nobl e,

ing, niches and balconies should take into accou nt that people will not

helpful and good . Even when th ey do not app ear banal , Vitruvius' terms

onl y walk across it, but would also like to stop for a moment, lean against

no long er have a definite sub stance to offer . The ar chitects' situation

it, rest on it, sit down and look around, or just be alon e - and tha t what-

mirrors th at of th e engineers : th ey are given a basic understanding of

ever th ey do, they will touch it . Thus, a footbridge does not remain just a

structural th eory as stude nts , but rarely devel op it into an ability to design

bridge , but matures int o a jogging track, a boulevard, a promenade, a

structures. Of all things , th en, it is th e mod est footbridge , a class of

pla ce for a rendezvous and , finally, a landmark . Last but not least, light-

structure comparable in st atus to the semi-det ached hous e, whi ch on

ing design has a prominent part to play, as pedestrians expe r ience night-

account of its complex characte ris t ics puts th e much-vaunted cooperation

t ime illumination in a completely differ ent way from a car driver conce n -

between ar chitect s and engine ers to the test . One of th e professions is

trating on the road. W ith such a variety of tasks, standard solutions seldom

defend ing a source of income; the other is hungry for new one s.

prov e satisfa ctory. The basic types of structure as such ar e in no way adequ ate to meet all of th e differ ent requirem ents. In order to achi eve a de-

For us (an architecture cr it ic and a str uc t ural engineer) th e most impor t ant thing is the result ; we exam ine each case to sec wher e credit is

sign that is more than just the shortest way of con nec ti ng two points, it is

du e and we can recommend, both from our own expe r ience and in gen -

best to vary th em, combine th em and develop th em expe r imentally. This

eral, aiming for amity and lively debate. The fact that the footbridge, such

naturally stimulates the design ambitions of the structural engineer, but

an unpret entious structure, is still capable of exper imental and imagina-

th e ar chitect and the landscape designer also feel called upon to take over

tive development, in spite of all of th e standards and regulations, makes

engi nee ring's choicest task. In matters relating to atmosphere, significant

up much of its charm . This applies throughout Europe , wh er e a jungle of

forms and th e sensory effec ts of material properties , mo st structural

rules and red tap e makes building a complicated and expensive business.

A simple suspension bridge (c. 1890) near Ardez in Switzerland. It can be crossed by only one person at a time.

13

14

Characten anon

Paramete rs and Structural Design

Users experience footbridges much more

alsoopens up new possibilities for emphasizing

longer bridges. Statistics show that such crowding

directly than road or railway bridges. As we cross a

the spatial geometry of the structure. Walkable

(5 kN/m2 is equivalentto 6 people per square

footbridge, we can touch the structure and study

arches and stress ribbon bridges are therefore

metre) is very improbableon a long bridge deck.

the details, thereby allowing us to gras p the struc-

possible design alternatives for footbridges,

As pedestrians are much less sensitive to deflections

ture fully in every sense of the word. These are

although it should be noted that deck gradients

than road or railway traffi c, footbridges may be

bridgesto be to uched. Thedesign freedom for the

greater than 6 percent present problems for

much more slender and lightweight than road or

structural engineer is much more pronounced than

w heelchair users. It is not simply the maximum

railway bridges. Becauseof this, footbr idgesare

for road or rail bridges in spite of some parameters

slope that presents a problem, but the potential

often lively, and dynamic analysis of the structure

particularto footbridge structures. This design

energy required to overcome the slope. This may

should be carried out in the early phases of the

freedom is a welcome and exhilarating challenge.

be expressed asthe inverse of the product of the

design.

In this section, the issues unique to footbridge de-

length and slope. Alternative pathways must be

sign will be summarized briefly. Additional infor-

offered for wheelchair users where there are steep

mation can be found in the technical overviews

deck gradients or stairways.

and the referen ces, which provide an introduction to the technical literature.

Dimensions Most pedestrian bridges are narrow, with

TheThird Dimension

decks between of 3 and 4 m. As a rule of thumb,

Pedestrian bridgesallow the design to break

30 pedestrians per minute for every metre of deck

free of the linearity of high-speed traff ic, whose

w idth can cross the bridge without impeding one

bridge decks generally attempt to join two points

another. Even with the largestcrowds, this figure

separated by an obstacle asdirectly as possi ble.

rarely reaches 100 pedestrians per minute. Most

Thegeometry of the bridge deck in the horizon-

European codes call for a minimum deck width of

tal plane can be chosen freely and may be quite

2 m for bridges open to pedestrian and cycle

curved. A spatial experience may be achieved by

traffic.

the suspension of the bridge deck, by a move-

Given these pedestrian densities, it is surpri-

able bridge, or by the intersection of multiple

sing that the pedestrian live load of 5 kN/m 2 called

pathways.

for in most European codes is roughly equal to the

Thegeometry of the gradient of the bridge deck may also be relatively freely chosen, w hich

loading of the main lane of a roadway bridge. In many countries, this load may be reduced for

Load testing - where numerical calculations cannot replace the intuition and experience of the engineer, here on site for the construction of the footbridge in Sassnitz

15

16

Charactenzanon

Materials and struct ure

give the usera sense of safety. It often seems

In addition to asphalt and concrete, many

appropriate to integrate the lighting system into

other materials can be used asdeck surfacing. For

the handrails or railing posts, just asthe shadows

timber surfacing, the danger of slipping should be

cast from the railing effect the visual impression of

considered, especially if the wood planksfollow

the deck during the day. New materials and

the longitudinal direction of the structure. The

innovative structuralsystems are often more readily

moisture expansion of the wood must also be

approved by the owners and local administrations

taken into account. Grating surfaces are cheap,

than large bridges w here the total risk and costs

allow light to pass through the deck and do not

are much higher.

require drainage . They are, however, difficult surfaces to cross for pedestrians who are barefoot or wearing high heels. Laminated glass surfaces

Freedom of design Bridge desig n has long been regarded asthe

must have a high level of opacity to prevent people

most rigorous in the challenging field of civil

below from viewing through the deck. Glass

engineering. With the smaller scale of footbridges,

surfacing is primarily found in interior spacesor for

bridge designers can finally let their hair dow n and

covered footbridges.

t ruly indulge their creative side. Self-critical engi-

Railings require particular attention and

neers often seek advice from architects, industrial

must be at least 1.2 m for bridgesopen to cyclists.

designers, and landscape architects for design

The railing should be designed to withstand a

issues such asthe integration of the structure into

transverse load of 1 kN/m applied at the height of

the surrounding environment, the light, colour,

the handrail. Because of the height of the guard-

and feel of the structure. In cases w here the

rails, they are often incorporated into the global

engineers and architects in the design have a good

structural system of the bridge. The design of the

history of cooperation between one another, the

handrail has an important impact on the visual

traditional roles of architect and engineer become

impression of the bridge. The railing may appear

blurred to the benefit of the overall project.

either opaque or transparent from afar and must

It is often said of large bridgesthat "a bridge

St Gallen-Haggen, Bridgeover the Sitter, Rudolf Dick, 1937'

is no destination". Thisis however not at all true for the designof footbridges. The pedestrian should rememberhis or her experience crossing the structureas being particularlypleasant. The footbridge designs of the lastfew years have shown just how much is possible in bridge design. The increasingly large number of designcompetitions hasshown how seriously the design of these structures is taken. Thechallenge of structural innovation, the audacityof competition, and the owner's desire to createa landmarkstructure often overshootthe goal. Bridges that aredesigned to impress often breakwith rational technical designtenets. We haveto admit that thesetechnicallyunreasonable structuresmay becomequite impressive given the right lighting and spatialperspectives but must not be taken asdesignideal. Thedesignteam should not overlook the role of the structuralsystem asa catalystfor the diversityof footbridge design. Moreover, the developmentof the appropriatestructure, given the surroundingenvironment, functional requirements, or the additional requirements of the

1 Dick, Rudolf. Von der Sitter-

owner, must be seen asthe central challenge of

brikke Haggen-Stein bei SI.

the project.

Gallen, in: 5chweizerische Bauzeitung, 118, 1941, pp 122-123

Retros pective

Truly, opposing what is customary is a thankless task.

Heinrich Heine

Any general history of bridge construction inevitably begins with

manoeuvre. Because people experience the built environment much

footbridges. The search for the origins of bridgebuilding has so far taken

more slowly and with greater immediacy on foot than they do in cars or

us back to early civilizations in China, Mesopotamia and South America.

trains, this freedom was used, then as now, in a cultural, time-dependent

There is archaeological evidence of simple suspension bridges for those

sense: intuition and experience, experimentation and science; displays

with a steady head for heights, small timber beam bridges and stone slab

of magnificence; gracefulness and bareness - these are the themes that,

walkways for people and animals, like those at Tarr, Exmoor, or in Post-

in retrospect, are of specific relevance to the history of footbridges.

bridge on Dartmoor, and Lavertezzo in Switzerland (see p. 20). It may

They do not replace each other in sequence, but rather add to a growing

well be that globally accessible Internet data banks, such as Structurae,

wealth of design and structural concepts, which the present age can

Bridgemeister and Briickenweb, are creating a riew basis for writing a

draw upon and continue to work with.

more reliable history of early bridgebuilding. That is neither within the capacity of this book, nor is it our intention. Our interest begins explicitly with the time in which traffic-related requirements resulted in quantum leaps in bridgebuilding and also in the birth of structural engineering as a definable profession -- one that has dominated the construction of footbridges, too, to this day. It soon becomes clear that the qualifications and professional ethos of the structural engineer were determined to a great degree by each new means of transport: first the railway train, with bridges and vast station sheds, then the car, with gigantic motorway bridges. Cost-effectiveness, too, played an increasingly important part, which limited the structural engineer's freedom to play with forms in order to achieve a particular, contemporary design. Looking back over the development of the footbridge in comparison, we see that the relationship between construction, material, form and cost-effectiveness allowed much greater room for

20

Retrospective

The mediaeval stone bridge at La vertezzo in the Verzasca valley, Switzerland

Bigger, faster, further - traffic, architect and engineer Ever since traffic and its technical requirem ents began to drive

canal and bridgebuilding from the hands of the ari sto cracy, tradesm en' s

innovation in large-scale bridge constr uction , th e footb rid ge has devel oped

associ ations and religious orders . His aim was to make it better and ,

along a re cognizably sepa rate path. The small-scale structure for human

abov e all , efficie nt , as part of a poli cy of centr aliz at ion under the absolute

be ings and animals g radually became som ething special. Build ing it

monarchy. Once again, politi cs was driving developments in th e

rem ain ed nonetheless the responsibility of struct ural engineers . Their

construct ion industry. T he process had begun in 1716 with th e establish-

profession al identity change d rep eatedl y from the mid-rsth century

ment of an engineer ing corps, from which the l:cole Nationale des Ponts

onwards, as exper ience wa s arrange d in a syste mat ic framewo rk,

et Ch aussees was later cre ate d . Man y parts of th e country be cam e mor e

th eoreti cal knowledge grew expo nent ially and economics put pr essure

acc essibl e : at the beginning of th e i Sth cent ur y, t he stone bridges in

on t he construction industry. This becom es evide nt if we outline how

France had number ed ar ou nd 600 , but by 1790, 400 more had been bu ilt,

things stood towards th e end of th e isth ce nt u r y.

whil e th e number of wooden bridges do ubled during the same period.' Th e militar y had alr eady started cr uci al initiatives to advance knowledg e

Economy in bridgebui lding

of ro adbui lding and for t ress construct ion in th e 17th century; th ese

On 14 February 1747, Jean- Rodolphe Perronet was appointe d head

resulted in th e founding of a military engineering school in Mezier es in

of th e newly found ed Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussees (National

1736 .2Colbert th en drew a fateful co nclusion : he postulated that eco nomy

School of Bridges and Roads) in Pari s. He wa s not merely an engineer, but

is essent ial for an infrastructure to be built up efficie ntly - and Perron et ,

also an ext raordi nar ily tal ented organizer and an important contributor

of all people, rai sed economy of m ate ri al to th e sta t us of an aesthetic

to an ambitious ly planned compe ndi um of knowl edg e : th e encyclopaedia

principl e. Towards the end of h is working life, he pr ided him self on

ed ite d by d 'Alembert und Diderot . Per ron et took th e ar t of building

having been th e first to give works of ar t a form "qui ti re de I' economic

I

Berrey, Bern ard: l.cs Pout s

Mod crncs, ,8(' - ' 9(' siccles,

Paris, ' 9 90 , p. 2~f.; Grclo n . Stuc k, 19 9 4 , p. 84

(wh ich even now we keep wanting to see as an inviolate who le) and split it

de mati ere un moyen de dccoration'l.r The efficie nt use of material it self

with an axe that has continued in use to this day: eco nomics. Adm itted ly,

bec ame an aesthet ic cr iterion, the fir st step on a path that was to have

Stra ub, 1992, p. 16 3f. 3 Picon, An to in e: Pcr ro n ct ,

he d id so on orders from abov e : Jean -Baptiste Colbert , th e fin ance

immeasurable conse quences for (engineering) bridge construction and

in : L' ar-t de I'i ngen icu r, Par is

minister of th e Sun King, Loui s XIV, had decided to w re st contro l of road ,

later for ar chit ecture as a whole .

pp. 39 and 6of.

2 Ku r t -or; 2003, p.39;

1997, p . ~ 64 ; Mar -re v, ' 990 ,

Tarr Steps, Exmoor, 1000 BC

Thus th e Q!1erell e des A nciens et des Modern es, a peculiar di sagreement

Clapper Bridge, Postbridge, Dartmoor

assessm ent of archi tecture in gen er al (and of bridges in particular) up to

oyer reverenc e for Antiquity and the mod ern spir it of innovation th at

thi s da y. Ther e is, aft er all , no agreem ent about what a true construction

had broken out in liter ary cir cles half a ce nt ur y earl ier, was join ed by

mi ght be and wh ether , if it were taken t o mean so me t h ing like a right

anot her issu e. No soo ne r had enginee rs liber at ed th emselves fr om th e

constru ction , it would always also be beautiful.

dogma of clas sicism, th an design bec ame pervaded by th e co ncept o f

T he aes t het ics of eco nomy and th e truth of co nst r uct ion were

economy. This d id not change with th e degradation of th e EN PC t o a

ultimately join ed at ar o und th e same time by a furth er aspect , th at of

practi ce-oriented school and th e re-establishment of th e Ecole Polyte ch -

esteem for t he fun ctional. T his was th e work of an Itali an Fr an ciscan

niqu e for more acad emi c st ud ies. On th e cont ra ry: th e th eoret ical and

monk, C arlo Lodoli (16 90 -1761), who promoted th e opinion that arc h i-

pra cti cal branch es of th e new profession , t he eng inee r, drift ed eyer

te cture (which wh en referred to th en alwa ys included wh at we now

furth er apart. 4

t hi n k of se par ate ly as engineer ing con str uc t ion) shou ld be func t io nal. In his w ritings, Lodoli relates fun ct ion less to th e ar ran gem ent of spa ces th an

Truth of Construction

to th e material di spla y of pu rposes. 6 Th ese topics belonging t o arc h ite c-

Th riftiness was a conce rn not ju st of th e Fren ch , but of th e English

tural theory pe netrated far into ar eas in whi ch th e im age of th e na scent

to o .\ It is also worth r em embering that a Jesuit sign ifican tly influen ced

st r uc t ural eng ineer ing professio n (in a narrow sense) was becoming

th e forma tion of op ini on in th e ar chitectural deb at es th at began in the

more sharply foc use d: intuition and ex pe r ience ; scienc e and eco no my.

m id-rxth century. In 17B , Marc Antoin e Laugi er, who was livin g in Pari s (;rdon , Stu ck, 1994, p. 171'.

ibid. , p. X5" 6

Laugic r, Mar c Antoi ne, Essai

sur l'a rchitccturc , 170 /86; Mc m mo, And rea (cd .}; Andre a

lodoli 7 Sc-hu t te. Ul rich, Baumeister

in Krieg und Friede n , Wo ll'enhiitt d,1984

It sho uld not be forgott en th at, for bridgebuilding espe cia lly,

as co ur t chaplain, published hi s Essai sur I'architect ure, on e of th e m ost

cr uc ial impulses came from th e military sph er e . Matters r el at in g in an y

important tex ts o n arc h itec t ura l th eor y of it s tim e . In it , Laugi er

way to visual appea rance had no part to play th ere , fun ctionality and

fulmina tes against pomp and di spla y and, taking as an exa mple a

effic iency being th e sole criteria for a way of building that event ually

tou chingly primitive hut co ns ist ing of four tree trunks , a pitched roo f and

develo ped a lon g and inv entive tradition ."

a bit of wattl e -and-daub, ex po unds on tru th of construction . This marks th e fir st app earan ce of a te rm that ha s r emain ed hotly di sputed in th e

21

22

Retrospective

Cambridge, reconstruction of the bridge of 1749

Old Walton Bridge, oil painting by Canaletto, 1754

Intuition and Experience In England and, above all , France , the technical and scie nt ific aspects of construction played an ever great er part in defining the pr ofil e of the engineer, who in principl e was also think ing econom ically. In Eng land, wh er e th er e was no institution comparabl e to th e Ecole Nationa le des Ponts et Ch aussees, an attempt to educat e st udent s spe cifically in const r ucti on was mad e by John Soan e (1753-1837) , th e best -known architect in th e country, who became a professor at th e Royal Acad emy in London in 180 6. He was alre ady greatly interested in bridgebuilding wh en he set off on th e Grand Tour for th e first time in 1778. On th e way to Rom e, he stopped off in Paris to visit Perronet and see hi s brand new stone bridge , the Pont de Ncuilly, built in 1768 -74.' It was wooden bridges , how ever , that Soan e encountered on his return through Sw it zerla nd. The history of wo od en br idge constr uc tion has many cele brate d str uct ures: Julius Caesar's rather vaguely described bridge across th e Rhine, built du ring his suc ces sful advance northwards through Europe;' th e Danube bridges th at are carved on Trajan's colum n in Rom e and th e bridges described by Alb erti: and Palladio - respectively - th e latter inspiring cou nt less foo tbridges throughout Eu rop e . Wooden bridge co nst r uct ion in England might best be represented by a

I

2

:\ \agg i, Navonc, zooj , P: II Galus Julius Caesar, De hello

gallico

3 Alber ti, Leon Battista , Zdm Bucher tiber die Baukunst , cd . Max Thcuer, Dar mstadt ' 975,

small footbridge designed by William Ether idge (1707-1776) and built by

p. 202fT.

Jam es Essex in Cambridge in 1749 . Known as the "mathematical bridge",

4 Palladia, And rea, Die vier Buch er zur Architektur, eds .

it also serv ed as a mod el for Garret Hostel Bridg e in Trinity College

Andreas Beyer and Ulr ich Schutte , Zuri ch / Muni ch

(1769) and th e bridge at Iffley Lock in Oxford (1924) .

19'+( ') , P' 219fT.

23

Schaffhausen, 1795

Wett ingen, 1795

Hittisau. Kummabridge, 1720

Et her idge foll ow ed it so o n aft e r wa rds w ith a lar ger wood en br idge : Old

hi s ar t by h im sel f that he is justl y co unted amo ng t he innovat ive mast e r

Walt o n Br idg e, which sur vives on ly' in th e w cll-kn own pai ntin g of it by

bu ild ers of the ccnt ur v."

Ca nalet to from IH4 . It w as a lar ger vers ion of th e "m athemati cal bridge"

Soa ne and hi s assist ant s pain st aki ngly dre w th e covere d wood en

in Ca m br idg e, which was reconst ru ct ed in 18(,(, a nd 1 9 0~. The design d id

br id ges in Schaff haus en (1757 ) , Wettinge n (17(,0 ) and m any others t hat ,

no t gi ye th e wo od e n eleme nt s su ffic ie nt prot ecti on for a bri dge of thi s

in spit e of spa ns of oyer ~o m , fitt ed into t he la nd scape well. Beca use

sor t t o sur vive,

mo st of the Grubenma n ns' woode n brid ges w er e dest r oyed by 1800, these drawings would have been of g re at valu e , but in Basel , John Soa ne

~

quote-d b~ Killer, Jm cf: dcr Haum c-i-tcr

[ l ie \\ '~ T k c

ruuhonmann, l ell'\" , P: V, l' 1 1I 1" tln- v.u-icd n-an [c-r ,>1 d r'1\\ ing" o r hridg,· {rom ' I I itN rl.lnd to fn glalld , " T :" ,H el l h' , :\ i, olJ.:Th," \ igh l" ,·n th ·l '{'nt ur .\ l.urop c.m r"]H lt'lt io ll oj t he (irubc-nm an n 1' I", ltl h T S. ill :

John

"';O ,H H' , ?OOI.

p. )d . , Hum ", 11\1\\ .1["(1: lrom Julius l ',W ";,l r t o

111(' Crubcnm.mn

ln-ot hc-rs: Soan c- an d th e hixtorv

,.1 \ \ C\l u!l: lI IH'idgt"", i ll : John \q ,lJl t' ,

zoo j ,

p. 19

... Bu rn ..., p. ?o 'I

'cra.k-l m an u , We rner:

I iol/h r iilkcn de l' Sc hwe LI t-in lnvvntar. Chur

1'1 '1 0 :

Kille-r, [o-cf: I ) jt ' \ Vnkv dcr Hnun c-i-tc-r ( ; r u !J,' tl lll ,HHl , 19"' ~;

vn-imuann, Lugcn: 11.1Il" Ulrich l ;rU h "Il Ill.lllll. I q1\4 ;

10

Kille-r.

19 "'+ .

p.n

The Grubenmanns ' Wooden Bridges

lost almost all of th em along with his d rawing equ ipm ent. h As well as

What Soa ne saw in Swit zerl and amazed h im : up in t he Alps, wo od en

th eir refined co nst r uc t io n , Soa ne pr aised t he pictu resqu e qu alit y of th e

br idge construct ion had mat ured to a sur pr ising deg ree in t he hand s of

Sw iss wood en bridges and log icall y, in h is lectures, exa m ined th e

th e Gr ube nman n br othe rs, without th e ben efit of a ny' aca de m ic

inte r p lay be t wee n t he str uct ure and appea ra nce of a br idge an d t he

infrastruct ure of th e sor t ex ist ing in London a nd Pari s, T he ir lack of

land scap e ." He co ns ide re d Perronet, w ho wa s of Swiss orig in , t o be a

t heoretical kn owl ed ge was mo re t ha n co mpe nsat ed lor by t heir lo ve of

goo d e ng inee r, but a bad ar chi t ect , saying t hat th e Pont de Ne u illy

e xpe r ime nt at io n and th eir st o re of ex pe r ie nce . This cause d a sensat io n.

bridge , in parti cul ar , lack ed th e "beaut y of e legance".'

\ Villiam Coxc, ano t her Eng lishm an, in hi s sket ches a/ the

;\' aC1I ra I, Poli t ical

Indeed , th e Alpi ne region wa s hom e to an out sta nd ing , co nt in ually

and Civil Stat e a/ SWitzerland (sic) , writes of t he bri dge in Sc haffha use n :

g row ing t ra d it io n of woo de n br idge co nst r uctio n , whi ch reac hed a peak

" If o ne conside rs t he size of th e plan a nd th e bold ness of th e st r uc t ure,

of ex perim enta l daring and ac cu m u lat ed expe r ience in the wo rk of Hans

on e is ast ou nde d th at t he builder was a co mmon ca r pe nte r without any

Ulr ich Grube nm ann (17° 9 - 1783) a nd Joh ann es Gr ube nma nn ( 1707 -1771).9

science, without th e slight est kn owl ed ge of mechani cs a nd wholl y

Eve n befo re t he Grube nm ann brot hers , th e ar t of build in g wood en

u nversed in t he t heory of mechani cs. Thi s ex t r ao rd inary m an is nam ed

br idges wa s ce rta in ly adva nced . The fir st han gin g t ru ss brid ge had been

Ul ri ch Gru benma nn , a co m mo n cou nt r ym an fr om Tii ffen , a sma ll

built in 146 8 oyer th e Go ldac h near St Ga lle n , wi th a span of 30 m , T his

\'illage in the ca nt o n of Appe nzell , wh o is \"Cr y tond of hi s drink . He has

t yp e of br idge spr ea d rapidly in th e isth cent u ry , w ith spa ns r angi ng

uncom m onl y g r eat natu r al skilfu lne ss and an asto ni shing apt it ude for

mostly fro m

t he prac t ica l par t of m ech ani cs; he has prog r essed so e xce pt io nally far in

Limmat at t he Land vopt cischloss in Baden, Sw it zerla nd, built in

20

to

~o

m; the lon gest , at 38 m , was the br idge oyer t he 157 2 . '0

24

Retrospective

Urnasch, Kubel, 1780

Also worthy of note ar e th e Kumma bridge of 1720 in Hittisau and th e Rosanna bridge of 1765 in Streng en . Hans Ulrich Grubenmann , in particular, became astonishingly ambitious in spanning great distances with timber structures, be cause bridges with found ations in th e water were re peatedly wash ed away by floods . Only t wo of his bridges have survived in the App cnzcll canton : the Urnasch bridge of 1778 , between Hundwil and Herisau, and th e Urnasch bridge of 1780 , between Herisau and Stein im Kubel. Both of them ar e narrow, covere d bridges with a span of around 30 m and ar e designed to carry horse -drawn traffic as well.' The structu-

re of both consist s of a hanging truss with st r uts arranged in a five-sided polygon and four pairs of susp ension posts . Above all, though, it was the aforemention ed bridges in Wettingen and Schaffhausen th at aroused fam e and admiration . Two points should be conside re d her e . The first is that although these wer e vehicular bridges, th ey might well not be perceived as such today, in view of th e remarks mad e by William Cox e when he visit ed Switzerland again aft er ten years: "The bridge stret ches and gives, as though it wer e hanging on eno r mously thi ck elastic rop es; it trembles and quakes und er th e tread of any pedestrian, and under the laden car ts that drive over it, th e swaying becomes so great that the inexperi enced fear th e collapse of th e same .'" Grubenmann first wanted the Schaffhausen bridge to span th e full "9 m from bank to bank, but his clients insisted that the middl e pier of th e pr evious bridge be used as a support . Grubenmann's impressive models (among th em on e of th e Schaffhausen bridge) can be found today in the Grubenmann Collec tion in Teufen.: The lin e between footbridge and road bridge is drawn differ ently nowadays, of course, and swaying is not tol erated. Although timb er construction in Switzerland wa s also refined by Jos ef Ritter (174-5-1809) and Blasius Baldischwiler (1752 -1831), th e baton for larg e-scale

wooden bridges passed to th e Am erican bridgebuilders. 4 Th e second point conce rn s th e aesthetic effect of the bridges . A look at th em reveals nothing about th eir constr uct ion : th ey are mostly clad, making th em appear like long timber hous es , and , as th e contem porary view of the Wettingen bridge shows, th ey wer e even painted with architectural forms . The visual int egration of this bridge as a long building into its village conte xt and the way in whi ch th e pit ched roofs over the long arches of th e bridge in Schaffhausen fit into the surrounding roofscap e both confi rm that th e contemporary understanding of beauty is to be measured in terms of th e picturesque treatment of the bridges and not

I Stade lma nn, ' 9 9 0, IV 8 and 9

2 Coxc 1786, quoted in Kill er, 19 84." . )6

J The or iginal model of the Sch affhausen Bridge is in the Allerh ciligenmu scum, in Schaffhausen , and th ere is a reproduction in the Grubenmann Co llection, in

of th eir str uct ure, which could only be seen from within - and then on ly

Teuf en .

with diffi culty in the dim light . To this day, it is precisely as footbridges

4 Afte r c. 18 0 0 , large -span timber br idges are developed

th at covered wood en bridges continue to be bu ilt in th e unicjue styles of their respe ctiv e periods (pag e 14-8 onwards).

above all in th e USA by Th eodore Bur r; as truss str uc ture s, Kurrcr,

200~,

p. 47

View lnside the urnasch bridge in Kubel; structural model (below)

25

26

Retrospective

Coalbrookdale Bridge, 1779

Such co m po ne nts can be weld ed together to create br idges w it h huge spans, wh ich th anks to th e high strengt h of steel can be m ade Significa ntly more slende r th an co ncrete bridges.

Cast Iron and Wrought Iron The firs t cast -iron bridge t o be built in Fra nce, how ever, was a foot bridge . It crossed th e Ri ver Sei ne with an o verall len gth of [66 .5 m . Lo uis Alexand re de Cessar t, Inspector Ge nera l of th e Eco le des Ponts et Cha ussees , and Jacqu es Dillon built th e Pont des Arts in 1802-04 with n in e arches, eac h spann ing 18.5 m . In [984 , it was repl aced wi t h a reco nstr uc tion in steel, whi ch had seven arches ins tead of nin e .' The Pont des Ar ts is never theless sti ll mu ch loved by Parisians on account of its functio n as a footb r idge ; it is also a pla ce t o me et, or spe nd an even ing (or even t he wh ole day) , r ath er lik e a public squa re. Site d between two sto ne bridges, Pont Ne uf and Pont du Ca rrousel , th e deli cat e structu re appea rs to sk ip gracefully an d eas ily o ver th e Seine. Alo ng w it h the Passe re lle D ebill y and t he new footbridges near Solferi no (see p. (42) an d Bercy (see p . 14 4) th e Pont des Ar ts d isplays th e his t o r ical di m en sion of th e Seine 's re lati o nship t o th e city.

Science, Economy, Experimentation The effect on th e rxth cen t u r y of im pro veme nts in iro nwo rk ing ,

It was an oth er project for a pe des t r ian bri dge th at gave Antoine

Rerny Polonceau an op po rt unity t o explore the lim it s o f feasibilit y in

early calc ulat ing m ethods and th e approaching Indu st ri al Revolution

[829: his br idge across th e Sein e near ru e de Bellechass e uses cast ir on

can not be underest im at ed . Until t he end of th e [7th centu ry, t he blast

and w rought iro n in a co m bin ation of arc hes and susp ensio n bridge, wi th

furnaces in whi ch pig ir on was smelte d wer e fire d w ith woo d . T hey

a fr ee spa n of [00 m . J

r eached a m axim um t emper ature of 1200 "C, producing iron of a qu alit y

Th e develop ment of iron pro d uc t ion was defin itel y m ot ivat ed by a

and ma lle ability th at did no t permit large com ponents to be formed .

desir e for techn ologi cal progress, co upled with t he ec onom ic pro spect s

Then , in 1709 , Abr aham D arb y (1678- 1717) had th e idea of firing t he

dep endent up on it. Perh aps surpr ising lv, t hese interest s played along

fu rnaces w ith low- sulphu r co ke, wh ich allowe d temper atures of up to

with th e arc hitect ural ex pectations of abso lut ist r ul ers up t o t he end of

1500 "C to be obtaine d. Th is produ ced r unny, m alleable iron for cas ti ng -

th e t St h ce nt ury and, in so me cases, int o th e age of Eu ro pean Resto rati o n .

a mil estone for br idgebuilding, t oo , alt ho ugh th e iron thu s m anu factured

T his pla ced th e m ain em phas is on th e picturesqu e qu ality of buildings

early on wa s brittle and co uld on ly be subjec te d to load s in co mpression.

and oth er st r uc t ures, as t heir settings in Eng lish and Ge r ma n landscap e

In 1779, a design by arc hi tect T homas Farnol Pritcha rd ([723-1777)

garde ns dem on st rate per fectl y. Before th e efficie ncy of iro n (an d lat er on ,

for a wooden bridge span n ing 30 m was built u sin g cas t -iron co m po ne nts

steel) was consis te ntly and m ethod ically improved , every kn own ty pe of

as an experi ment . This becam e th e ce lebrate d iro n b rid ge of Coalbrook-

bridge had been in corp orated int o th e ran ge of availabl e design s for foo t -

dale, erected by John Wilk in son (1728-1808) and an ir o n found r y owner,

bridges and tast efull y in st alled in th e park s and garde ns of Euro pe .

Abra ha m D arby 1II (1750- [789 ). It was t he first of a li ne of cast -iron ar ched br idges, wh ich ende d , how ever, as ea rly as [81 9 with th e co nstruction ofSo ut hwa r k Bridge in London , by John Renn ie the eld er . At 73.20 m, it st ill has th e lon gest spa ns of any cast- iro n br idge in th e wo rld.' T he t yp es of steel m anufactured nowad ays fo r m st ro ng joints wh en welded an d are available as tubes, ro lled sec tions, sheet and cast par ts.

I Pclkc, Ebe rhard , 20oS", P: 24 2 Lemoine, Bertrand, Pont des Arts, in: Lcs Pc nts de Par is,

Pari s

2000,

P:

2 11

l Paris, Archives nanonalcs. Cart es ct plans ; ilustration in : Dcswat tc, Lemoi ne, 19 97, P: 9 ~ ; the Polonceau tru ss syste m was Invented by his son, Bart he lem y Cam ille Polon ccau .

Pont des Arts, built 1802-04 wit h nine arches; reconstructed in 1984 with seven arches, each span ning 22 m

27

Retrospective

28

Avington Park, around 5 km northeast of Winchester - iron bridqe, built c. 1845, repaired in 1996

":il~ ,

$.~

Bridges as Design Features for Parks Stone and wood continued to dominate bridgebuilding into the

estate at Stourhead, in Wiltshire.t Worlitz, however, stands out for the

early 19th century. The maximum free spans that could be achieved with

sheer number of bridges and var iety of bridges in its design programme .

structures of these materials gradually became clear. Cast iron offered

Almost 5"0 bridges wer e built in the Gartenreich area as a whole, 19 of

only a moderately improved performance in respect of span lengths and

which stood in Worl tt z Park . The picturesque, scenic treatment of th e

stability. All the same, bridges such as the Coalbrookdale Bridge were of

bridges and, above all, of th eir settings may well have been influenced by

such importance as models of technical innovation that they were incor-

William Chambers . Chambers had travelled to China, where he had

porated as standard design features in parks and landscaped gardens. In

become acquainted with the Chinese approach to designing buildings and

this context , footbridges played an astonishing role, being used as models

gardens; in 1749 he had begun studying under Jacques Francois Blondel at

to illustrate everything of importance in bridgebuilding in general. They

the Ecole des Arts in Paris, later visiting Rom e to see its Classi cal and

demonstrate in miniature what distinguishes mere bridgebuilding from

Renai ssanc e architecture . Back in England, Chambers began planning

the art of bridge deSign; there is a focus on aesthetic issues , which were

Kew Gardens in 175"5. Nothing is left to chance in th ese picturesque and

unfortunately to become neglected in large-scale bridgebuilding. Today it

carefully composed gardens : visitors are led along a "beauty line" from

is still - or rather, onc e again - possible to see one of the best examples

one enchant ing view to another - and small bridges ar e an integral part

and Thomas \Vciss (eels}:

of this fashion for footbridges : the Gartenreich ar ea bet ween Dessau and

of these scenic compositions. Th e bridge programme at Worlit z also

Kult urlandsch aft , Stuttgart 1996 ;

Worlitz, the first landscaped park to be laid out in a German state.' This

include s an educational element with its roots in Enlightenment thinking.

Sperlich, Mar tin , in: Daidalos

model agricultural area and the landscaped garden at its heart were laid

Typ es of bridge from different eras and cultures with different methods

Llnendlich schon. Das Gartcnrcich Dcssau-Worlit z,

out on a grand scale by Leopold III Friedrich Franz von Anhalt- Dessau,

of construction appear like stage sets as on e walks among its many

who came of age in 175"8, and his ar chitect Friedrich Wilhelm von

wat erways . The topography of the former flood plain has been artificially

Erdmannsdorff, beginning in 1764. Prior to that, they had travelled in

varied in the park to create different landscapes in miniature, for which

England, among other countries, familiarizing th emselves with th e latest

matching footbridges have been chos en - or vice versa: th e chain bridge

ideas in places such as West Wycombe Park, belonging to Sir Francis

needs a ro ck y chasm; the miniature version of the iron bridge of

Dashwood-, Kew Gardens by William Chambers, and Henry Hoare's

Coalbrookdale is given a gradually rising emban kment; an overgrown

I

Bechtholdt, Prank -And reas.

wc ltbtld \Vorlit z. Entwurf cin cr

\7, ' 997, p. 741"·;

Berlin 100~ 2

Trauzette l, Ludwig:

Bru ck cnb aukunst , in : Llncndlich

schon , 200~, n .p. 3 Spe rlich, ' 997, p. 76

4 Burkhard t , Ber told : Das Bruckcnprogramm in W6r1itz, in : \Veltbild Worlitz, 1996 ,

pr. 2°7 - 218

Wbrlltz

Coalbrookda le Bridge in miniature, 1791

Cha in bridge, suspended between two artificial cliffs

path lead s t o th e swi ng br idge and so on . T his ri ch and var ied desig n pro g ram me has been desc ribed in deta il by Berthold Bu rckhardt , wh o was in charge of t he r e cent rep ai r an d reconst ruc tion of the Wiirl it z br id ges. 4 Landscap ed garde ns like thi s on e co uld well be th ou gh t o f as a pr e fig u ring so me of the id eas in Di sn eyland . O n th e ot he r hand , it is a lso clear t hat t he sma ll -sca le br idge wa s ga in ing a d eg re c o f autonom y, albei t p r im arily in th e sens e o f or nament a nd edu cation a nd less be cause of it s pot en ti al fo r st r uct u ra l cx pe r imc nta t io n . Regrettably, no t all o f t hc park 's m oveabl e b r idg es have su r vived , alt ho ugh the Ag ne s Bri dgc, a D u tc h sw ing br idgc , m ay st ill perhap s be r ccons t r ucted . It is also re ma rkable that alt hough , besid es Chinoiserie , it was Swi ss sce nes that were co nside re d t o be part icul arl y pictu resqu e , wo o den bridges o f the Swi ss t ype and even Alpin e -stvlc , covered, wood en bridges ar e mi ssing in W orlitz .

29

30

Retrospective

The High Bridge

White Bridge, 1773

The bridges and the land scape t yp olog y in Worlitz co mplement each other to create a co nsiste ntly at mos pheric and often m agnificent whol e. Her e, once again , th er e is an invocation of something th at is already imp lici t in th e ide a itself, less ut opi an th an unworldly: th e harm on iou s unity of natu re and technology; th e accord in th e souls of th e arti st and the te chnician ; th e simultaneity of th e ideal of beauty and fulfilm ent of fun ct ion . What footbridges can achi eve with alm ost m agical ease becom es proportionately mor e diffi cult for br idges at th e larger scales demanded by modern t ra ffic flow s. A single generation later, cri ticism was voiced of th e pictu resqu e approach t aken at Worlit z, of whi ch foo tbri dges wer e an esse nt ial part. The philosoph er Geor g Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel (1770 -1831) wrote, "Wher eas a hug e park , espec ially if rigg ed ou t with

Chinese pagodas, Turkish mo sques, Swiss chalets , bridges , hermitages, and goodness knows what other cur ios iti es , claim s our attention on its ow n accou nt ; it pr et end s to be and to mean som ething in it sel f. But our allure ment vanish es as soon as it is sati sfied , and we can hardl y look at this sor t of thing tw ice, because the se t rimm ings offer to th e eye nothing infinite , no indwell ing soul, and beside s th ey are on ly wearisom e and burden som e when we want rec reat ion and a st ro ll in conver sat ion with a Hegel , Georg Wi lhelm Pried r'ich , I, trans . TM . Knox, Ox ford, 199 8, vol. 2, I

pp. 699-7 0

fri end .'" From a histori cal po int of view, th is crit icism ignores th e holi sti c significance oflate rxth -ccntur y landscaped parks, in whi ch br idges also demonstrated struct ura l kn owl edg e .

Drawbridge at the swan pool

Sun Bridge, 1796, spann ing 8 m; the rolled iron of the springings came from England

31

32

Retrospective

Bridge in the parkof Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin, 1801

Int er est in sce n ic land scapes, whi ch should not be without br idges, revived per iod ically . In th e 19th ce nt ury , Fri edrich Ludwig von Sckell (1750-1823), Pet er Jos eph Lenne (1789-1866) and Herrmann von Piickl erMusk au (1785-1871) designed gardens that delight in eclect icism to an aston ishi ng degree, with a tend ency to give th e "natural" its due . Although footbridges no long er played th e rol e that the y had in Dessau-W orlitz. th ey wer e not negl ected as a design feature in pa rk s, as is illu strated here by Ferdinand von Tri est 's 12 m span, cast-iron bridge of 1801 in Ch arlottenburg Park, Berlin, and the Devil 's Bridge of 1852 in Kassel, t o name but tw o. In England, th e home of th e lands cap ed park , th er e ar e co untl ess examples of bridges being used as the centre piece s of sceni c compos it ions. The national ga rde n festivals held at regular interval s in d ifferent plac es, have th ei r roots in a different tradition: that of th e rxth- century botanical collec tion. They too sometimes provide opportunit ies to build high -quality footbr idges as part of urban improvem ent schemes , as is shown on page 196.

The Devil's Bridge, Wilhelmshbhe Park, Kassel, 1792-93, by Heinrich Christoph Jussow

33

34

Fa ustus Verantius, 1615

Fischer von Erlach, bridge in Sina, 1721

Winch Bridge - second version of the bridgefirst built in 1741 , sketch by Cumm ing, 1824, from Peters

Suspension Bridges - Experiments in Iron and Steel

Fisch er von Erlach to expre ss sheer aston ishm ent, when he reports on

As we m entioned earlier, from the late 18th centur y onwards, engi-

on e of "the wond erful chain bridges in China, built from th e peak of on e

neers found th emselves confronte d with new tasks as a result of develop -

mountain to another with boards on twenty iron chains near th e town of

ments in iron technology and th e ons et of industr ialization . At first , cast

Kingtung.'" The stories told by Euro pe an travellers of rop e and chain

iron had be en used structurally in th e same way as timber ; the iron was

bridges in far -off China certainly ex pre ss admiration . Fischer von Erlach 's

brittle and could not be subj ected to any ten sile load. Improving th e

source of infor ma t ion for th e Chinese ch ain hridge was a work published

tensile st rength of this material went hand in hand with the development

in 1667 by a Jesuit , Athanasius Kir cher , China Monum enti s lllustrat a - th e

of chain , wire rop e and wi re cable suspe nsion bridges . It quickly becam e

depictions are similar in every respect.

clear that th e limits of what was po ssible had not yet been reached, by any

The development of th e suspen sion bridge did not really hegin to

means. ' In connection with th e earliest chain, wire rope and wire cable

tak e off in Eu rope until the 19th cent ur y, when it became technologicall y

susp ension bridges, the footbridge acquired a rol e that earned it incr easing

and econom ically attract ive to produce iron and steel for th e manufacture

attention : that of th e exper imenta l prototype, serving in trial runs of

of chains , cable and wire rop e . Th e mo st important bridges were built in

new structures based on th eory or res earch .

ar eas of rapid industrialization , wh ere th e spirits of com me rce and

To a consider able degree, stimuli came from other cult ures . It is particularly inter esting, for example , how Johann Bernhard Fisch er von

invention came together. In the following secti ons, we will tak e a look at th e early chain susp ension hridges, then the wire cable and wire rop e

Erla ch, writing in 1721, treats bridges in th e first -ever outline of ar ch itec-

susp ension bridges. In England and Germany, it was mostly chain

tural history as such . In his second book, which conce rns th e art of build-

suspe nsion hridges that wer e built, wher eas wire rope was experimented

ing in Roman times, he mentions Augustus' bridge across th e Tib er (a

with in other count r ies.

monumental stone bridge with dimen sions suitabl e for a herd of elephants) and Hadrian 's bridge to th e Castel Sant 'Angelo, wh ich is som ewhat more modest. Fischer von Erla ch is mu ch mor e deepl y impress ed, how ever, by bridges made in other ways and by other cult u res, which he considers in I

Werner, ' 973;

\ Vagn er, Egermann , 1987; Pet er s, 198]

Chain bridges The Scholl encn ravine on th e St Gotthard pass in Swit zerland was

his third book. This is ded icat ed to th e arch itecture of th e Ar abs and

supposedl y th e site of a chain bridge built as early as the rjth century.

Turks , th e Persians , the Chinese and Japan ese. One t ype of bridge mov es

Better known , because th ey are th e old est surviving illustrations in this

Hscher von Erlach , Zwei tcs Buch

2

1] 21,

35

Winch bridge in Midd leton, 1830, repaired 1974

field, ar c th ree suspe nsio n br idge designs described in a boo k on mec ha n ics by Fau stus Vcran ti u s in 1615-17. Hi s chain br idge is more like an eye bar b r idge , hanging fro m m assive t ow ers, and in pa r ts it ant icipat es t he cha in -stayed br idge . Vcra nti us' Maclunae Novae was soo n trans late d into man y langu ages, whic h was consistent in view of Verant ius ' (155 1-1617) person a as a mult ilingu al polym ath and aut hor of dict io nar ies. Incid entall y, th e wo rd th at he used for cast iron tran slat es as " bell food" . 1 T he next oldes t bridge becam e surpris ingly well kn o wn . It was th e legen dar y ped estri an cha in suspension bridge th at spa nned 21 m across t he River Tees ncar M idd leto n , in Cu mbr ia. It was built in 1741 to shorte n th e jou rn ey fo r wo rk ers go ing to Midd leton fr om Holwi ck , o n t he ot he r side of t he rive r. 4 Th e wa lkway, wh ich co ns iste d of timber boards lyin g on chai ns , wa s apparently given a modicu m of sta bil ity by four tensi le chains anc hore d do wn in t he valley ; onl y o n o ne side wa s t here a hand r ail lor safety. T he br idge att rac te d visit ors from far and w ide, many of wh o m were greatly alar me d by th e degr ee t o whi ch it swaye d . A poet [rom Ne wcastle described it as a "da nci ng br idge".\ In 1802, t he chai ns par ted und er t he weight of ni ne people and alt ho ugh it was subsequently re pa ire d , it was replace d in 1830 by a new bridge site d a little farther up stream , whi ch aga in re qu ire d a spa n Of21 m . T his second br idge was com pletely resto re d in 1974 . T he span t hat could be achieve d with cha ins had been demon strat ed by t he Chinese muc h earl ie r, in 170 6, wit h t he han gin g Tat u bridge in Lutingch ao ; st ill stand ing today, it has ni ne eve bar chains and it spa ns aro un d 100 m . h

Meh r t en s,

19 0 0,

p. ~f.

l'c u-rs. ' 987, P: 2]

Marrcv, 19 9 0 , P: 116 [ wer t , 20 0 3, p. P

36

Retrospective

Melrose, 1828; below : collapse of the bridge in Brighton

Th e fascin ati on of suspension bridges and th e oppor t u nities th ey offered for imp ro vin g transport gave a new imp etu s to bridgebuilding , initially in th e Un ited States of Amer ica : patent s wer e sec ured and reco rd s broken . Jam es Finley (1756- 1828) bu ilt th e first chain br idge wit h a ri gid deck over St Jacob 's Cree k in 1801; it had a span of2 1m .' He had th is design o f bri dge pat ented immedi ately - un fortunately, non e of Finl ey's bridges have sur vived . The st iffeni ng of th e deck was decisive in gain ing acce pta nce of thi s type of bridge in Europe and th e USA - how ever fond peopl e may ot her wise have been of "d ancin g bridges". In th e UK , th e chain sus pe nsion bridge spread very qui ckl y and again, th e footbridge took on an expe r imenta l fun ct ion . In [8[7, a cha in bridge was built ac ross the River Tweed near Dryburgh by th e brothers John and William Smith; while in th e same year Redp ath & Brown built Kin gs Meadow Bridge , which spanned 33.5 m , also over th e Rive r Tweed near Peebl es.' Th e chain bridge at Dryburgh collapsed afte r a short tim e in 1818; th e cur rent bridge (a cable suspensio n bridge) dat es from 1872. T homas Telford ([757-1834) and Isamb ard Kingdom BruneI (180 6-59) dared stra ight away to build , on a mu ch larger scale, bridges that wer e no lon ger exclusively for ped estrian s: th e Menai St rai t Bridge (1826) ; t he chain brid ge at Co nwa y Castl e (1822 -26), and th e Clifton Suspe nsion Bridge ([864) .1A span lon ger th an th e 10 0 m had already been achieved in [820 by Sir Samue l Brown's Uni on Bri dge near Berwick , also across th e Tweed. Brow n had been expe r ime nting w it h chain bridges since [808, bravin g repeated set backs such as th e sever e dam age cause d by high winds to his chain bridge for Bright on pier in [836. 4 Altho ugh brid ge portals wer e st ill frequentl y built of stone , as at Melro se in [828 and Glasgow in 1855, th ey were increasingly be ing constr ucted as steel tru sses (es pec ially for cable suspension bridges), as at Dumfries in 1875 and Peebl es in 1905 - th e latt er ri ch ly orna m ente d (see illu st rat ion s on p. 46) . Portland Stree t Br idge in Glasgow, de sign ed by ar chitect Alexand er Kirkland and engineer Geor ge Martin with a resp ect able spa n of 126 m , is a good example of how sto ne portals help to int egrate bridges int o th e urban co ntext of th e city and pr event th em app ea ring as an all too sel f-co nta ined t echnical const r uc t. The sto ne portals seem to Ewer-t , 2003. P' S8 J Pe ter s , 19 8] . p. 17

I

1 Building work on the Clifton

Bridge was inte rrupted fo r po litical reaso ns from 1842-60 .

Pugslt·y, SirAlfred «('{I.). The \ Vo rks of Isamhard Kingdom Bruncl , an Eng ineer ing ApprC'ciation , Bristol , 1976 4

Pe ter s , 1987 . P' 95

be part of th e urban fabri c , wher eas th e steel fra me portals, such as th ose o f th e bridge in Peebl es, belon g com pletely to th e bridge as a unit . The Glasgow br idge , parts of wh ich had to be renewed in 1871, is highl y rega rded nowadays and is illuminated as a city land mark . The bridge in Melrose was rest or ed in [991, befor e which it had been limited to car ry ing no mor e th an eight peopl e at a tim e.

37

PortlandStreet Bridgein Glasgow, 1855

The fat es of these earl y cases make it quite clear that th e main structural problem for suspension bridges was oscillation . Pr act it io ners well versed in chai n bridges, suc h as James Dredge (1794 -1863) and Rol and Mason Audish certainly built co untless chain bridges, but m ost of th em collapsed aft er a fairl y short tim e .

Retrospect

38

e

Chain bridge, "Kettensteg", Nuremberg, 1824

In 1900, Georg Mehrtens (1843-1917), professor of engineer ing at th e Technische Hochschule in Dresden, r eflected so be rly that "Wholly in

in Malapane (a ce nt re of iron production) in Upper Silesia in 1825" had 75"

co nt r ast to arched bridgebuilding, the building of suspension bridges has

cat tl e herded onto it as a test of its loadbearing capacit y - hardly something

at no time r eally got going in Germany.'" In Mehrtens' opinion, only a

that would be done for a mere footbridge . s In 1828, an other chain

few early chain bridges were of importance. As far as is known today, th e

su spen sion bridge de signed for larger loads was built in Bamberg, with

old est surviving chain suspension br idg e in Germany is th e "Kettensteg", a

towers design ed by Leo von Klenze . Fourteen years later, a traffic

footbridge built across th e Pegnitz in Nuremberg by Johann Georg Kupplcr

restriction was introduced for reasons of safety and in 1891 this br idg e

in 1824-25", which spans a respectable 80 m. According to a Prussian

was demolished. One of th e bridges that has survived, ho wever, is th e

publication of 1822, th e idea of su sp ending bridges wa s first proposed by

early, sm all footbridge in the 11mpark in W eimar, dating from 1833,

Carl Immanuel Loscher in 1784; piers and trestles cou ld be dispens ed

which is suspended from three parallel ch ains on each side and spans

with if the bridge deck were to be suspended, for whi ch Loscher re com-

a mere 14 .8 m.

mended bars or chains . 2 Of th e chain bridg e in Nuremberg, th e four main suspension chains , hangers and railings remain . The suspension chains

p. 7r; Vcr han d lungc n des Vcrei ns zur

I Meh r ten s, ' 9 ° 0 , 2

Bcford crun g des Gcwcr bcfleillcs in Prcu ssen , Berlin, 1822 , p. 127

3 Petri , Kreutz, Stahlbau, }. 2004,

pp. 308 ~3 11

4 Pclkc, p. JJ

carts and coaches : a chain su sp en sion bridge spanning 31 m th at was built

The t ale of th e small pedestrian bridge spann ing 28.1 m across the upper Ruhr in the park of Laer manor in Mesched e is an interesting on e.

consist of tension rods with hooked ends and eyelets . Its original oak

It was r ediscovered towards th e end of the [990S . In 1998, a researcher

pylons were replaced in 1909 by steel truss m ast s - a change that caus ed

studying the archives of the m anor's owner found a manuscript by Johann

problems with d yn amic loads : pin joints and riv ets worked loose, not

August Robling, contain ing a detailed de scription and calculat ion s for

least because it had become a popular amusem ent to set th e deck os-

a 75" m suspension bridge across the Ruhr near Freicnohl. 6 Robling had

cillating. In [931, both secti ons of th e bridge were stabilized w ith two

placed great emphasis on stiffening his br idge adequately, in addition to

ti mber trestles each , fix ed to foundations in th e riv erbed . Sinc e th en ,

which he had proposed an alt ernative des ign with lengths of wire cabl e

private groups have repeatedly attempted to have th e Kettensteg r estored

instead of chains . The manuscript, from 1828, gives th e young Robling 's

5 Hauausfiihrungen des

to its original st at e .: Also built in 1824 was Christian Gottfried Heinrich

position as "Conducteur", roughly equivalent to a construction manager.

Berlin , 184 2, p. 67 (no te by

Bandhauer's (1790 -1837) pedestrian bridge across th e riv er Saale in Nien-

His solution was lat er adopted by a coll eague, A. Bruns, wh en designing

burg: a chain-stayed bridge on timber pylons, whi ch tragically collapsed

the much sm alle r chain su spension bridge at Laer manor, completed in

in th e following year und er th e load of a large number of townsfolk at a

1839 . It stood unnoticed on th e privately owned property for many years

public celebration . 4 In spite of the occasional bad expe r ience , German engineers were soon con structing chain bridges of larger dimensions that could also car r y

until its significance was reali zed in 1998, wh en it was giv en listed monu ment status." Th is did not prevent a tree from falling on on e of its pylons during a stor m in 2007. Although temporary m easures were immediately

Prcu ssischen Staatc s, vel .

I,

Andreas Kahlo w] 6 Schm itz, Ch risto ph, Di e Ruhrbrii ck en , Mu nster, 2004,

P: 126

7 Gr unsky, Eberhard, Von den Anfange n des Il angch riickenb aus in \Ves tfalen, in : Z ci tschrift w cstfalcn, vol. ] 6, Munich, 1998,

pp. 100-159 ;

Schm itz , 2004, p. 163f.

Altenbergsteg, Bern e, 1857

Laer, 1838-39

tak en to stabilize it and pr e\ 'ent it from collapsing, the bridge wa s a pitiful sight. Half of a pylon had to be repl aced with a tempora ry structure of st eel bea ms, while frei gh t ti c -down straps t ook th e place of broken or endanger ed han ger s. Th e old est suspe nsio n bridge in BelBilJm is thought to be a sm all footbrid ge in th e park of Wi ssck crke m anor, whi ch was built in 1824, th e same year as Nu re m berg's Ketten steg. Spanning 23 rn , it wa s design ed in th e English chain bridge t radi ti o n by Jean -Bapti st e Vilqu ai n, an eng ineer from Bru ssel s wh o had travell ed aro u nd Eng lan d . ~ T he same year saw th e foundati on of th e Gesellsclliiftfiir Kettenbriickenbau (chain bridge co ns t r uc t ion co mpa ny) in Vienna by Ign az yon Miti s, wh ich built th e city 's fir st cha in sus pe ns ion bridge fou r yea rs lat er - thi s was th e fir st br idge to have chains m ade of stee l, but unfortunately it was di smantled in 1880 to m ake way fo r a lar ger bridge . y Th e oldes t sun i\'ing chain sus pe ns io n bridge in Switzerland is probabl y t he Alt enbergst eg in Berne, built in 18p by a nat ive of t hat city, ch ief eng ineer Gu st av Gr.inic hc r (182 0 -18 79). W ith a width of 2.1m and a len gth of p m , t his foot br idge, now a list ed monument, co n nec ts the old city ce ntre (after m aking th e steep descent to th e river Aare) with th e Altenbe rg qua rt er. It is st iffene d by lat ti ce gir ders that sim u ltaneo usly fun ction as its para pe ts ; th e supe rstr uc t ure has cross -brac ing to pre yent lat er al deformati on . Th e fl at chains arc m ade up of m embers 3 m lon g, eac h of whi ch consists of four pa rallel rib s measuring 9 cm wid e and 1.7 cm thi ck . Th ese cha ins r un oyer roc king pier s and are ancho re d in th e rive r em ban kme nt at t he so ut he rn end and in th e grou nd at th e northern end.

X

de Bou w, ;\1., I. Wo ute rs .

Im-e stigat io n of t he re stor ation o f th e iro n suspens io n hr idgt'

at t he cast le of Wis sckcr kc-,in : \V ITTransactions on t he Built Envi ro nment ,

\ 0 1.

Rl, 200S

') Mehr tens , 1900 , p. 6

39

40

Retrospective

St Petersburg, Post Office Bridge across the Moyka , 1824, span 35 m

Paris, Buttes-Chaumont, 1867

In France, th e focus of int er est was mo r e on cable and wire bridges , but of course chain bridges were built as well. The country's first chain

Th e first two decades ofthe 19th century were r emarkable for an unpreced entedl y rapid transfer of knowledge and technology across

bridge was th e Drac river bridge near Gr en obl e, built by Crozet and

national and language barriers, as far as Ru ssia . When it came to solving

Jourdan in 1827 .1 In 1839 , Berdoly and Dupouy built a chain bridge across

tricky te chnical probl ems, th e court in St Pet ersburg readily calle d on

th e Agen with a span of 174 m , but tests showed that it would be un able to

th e services of French or Germ an experts . Notable names in th e field of

car ry the planned load s, so it had to be rein forced, finally being reopened

bridge bUilding include a Span iard , Augus tin Betancourt

in 1841. Even so, it failed to last long, and in 1882 th e chains wer e repla ced

Fren chman, Pierre -Dominique Bazain e (1786-1836), and two Germans,

(17~8-1824), a

by four steel cables on each side. At first , no more th an 60 people were

Wilhelm von Traitteur (1788 -18~9) and Carl Fr iedrich von Wiebeking

permitted on th e bridge at an yone time , but in 1906 thi s was reduced to

(1762-1842) - th e latter working from Munich . Traitteu r had little success

2~ ;

th en in 1936th e main susp ension cables had to be repl aced . In th e early

19~os,

high wat er levels in th e Garonne damaged th e bridge, which had

as an enginee r in his native Baden, but in 1813 he was introduced to the Tsar of Russia , who was married to a princess of Baden . In th e following

been in need of repair in any case , leading to incr easing doubts about it s

year, he began work in St Pet ersburg und er th e Spaniard Betancourt,

long-term stability. In 2001-2002, the complete bridge was reconstructed .'

taking over as super intende nt of bridges in 1821. 4 Pierre-Dom inique

The challenge of br idge building naturally app eal ed to on e particular en-

Bazaine, who had come to St Petersburg before Traitteur, expe r ime nte d

gin eer with an aptit ude for business : Gustave Eiffcl (1832 -1923). In 1867,

with cable suspension bridges as early as 1823. The bridge built in th e park

he built a 63.86 m span chain suspe nsion bridge in the park of Buttes -

of Catherine Palac e in th e sam e year was, however, a chain susp ens ion

Chaumont. However, he never favoured this typ e of bridge , preferring to

bridge, because th e production of wire was not as far advanced in Russia

exploit th e pos sibilities offered by steel truss structures. The chains of

as it was in France.s Although it was probably th e first of its type to be built

this bridge have, in th e meantime, been replaced by wi re cables.:

in Russia, chain susp ension bridges had not been unknown th er e before that : Nikolaus Fuss from Swit zerland (Euler 's succ esso r at the St Pet ers bu rg Academy of Sciences) had deSigned a susp ension bridge spanning 300 m across th e r iver Ne va many years earlie r. Traitteur worked on

Peter s, 1987, P' 68 La Passcr cllc d ' Agen. Lc sauvctage d 'un ouvrage histor ique, in: Freyssinet Magazine, Jan -April 20 0 3; Lccinq . Ben oit, and Sebastian Petit, Ren ovation of the I

2

footh rid ge over the Garo nnc in .\ gen , in: foothridge 20 0 2 ,

proceedings, Pl'. 120 - 121 3 Lcfrcsn c.Y,, La

recon stru cti on de la passerel] e sus pcnduc des Butt es Chaumont, in: Travaux , 482,

May 197), p. 50

chain bridges on a larg e and a small scale simult aneously. His three pe-

4 Fcdo rov, 20 0 0 , P'

destrian bridges have survived : th e Post Office Bridge of 1824across th e

6

5 ibid . • P' 184

ibid.• P' 197

80

Bank Bridqe, 1825-26, span 21 .5 m

Lion Bridge, 1825-26, span 23.5 m

Moyka r iver and th e Lion and Bank br idges of 182, - 26 over Catheri ne

hesit at e to atte mpt large , high -m aintenance cha in bri dges, som e of

(now Griboyedov) Canal. Fo r t he br idge across th e Moyka, t he Swiss en -

whi ch are st ill in use to day, the chain suspension bri dge was not des t ine d

gineer Henri Gu illa ume Du fou r had sent pl ans to St Peter sburg - t hese

for a glor io us fut ure . The fata l co llaps e of a chain br idge in Angers in

can no lo nger be fou nd, but it shou ld be noted that a model of h is St An -

[8, 0 , designed by th e h ighl y ex per ienced engineers Joseph Cha ley and

toin e bridge did ex ist in t he teachin g collect ion in St Petersburg.

Th eodore Bordillon , was a serious set back . Better prospects were offere d

In 1823, Trait teu r began designi ng this sm all bridg e, span ning 35 m ; in

by the developm ent of wire cab le and wire rope brid ges, in which advances

o rder to r educe osci llat ions, t he main suspensio n cha ins were to be fixed

we re made by t he Segu in broth ers and Henri Gui llaume D ufo ur in France

t o th e deck in t he middle of the bridge (sag -to -spa n ra t io

and Switz erland , an d by Bri x and (lat er) Roblin g in Ge rmany - alt hough

I : 16).

Two

cha ins consisti ng of 19 eyeba rs each sup port t he br idge via 36 hangers, t hey run over

2., m high cast -iron obelis ks an d cur ved , spo ked fr am es

dow n t o cast -iron gro un d plates. Fo r t he two ot her br idges, Tr aitteu r abandoned th e obelisks in favour of anima l fig ures , nam ely lions and g rypho ns - th e latter bei ng an heraldic beast on t he coa t of arms of Alexa nde r von Wii rttemb erg, who ran th e Russian hi gh ways aut hori t y in St Pete rsbu rg. T his design innovati on g ives t hese brid ges t heir specia l char m - animal fig ures as anchorages for chains or wire ro pes do ap pea r agai n at a lat er date o n th e Lion Bridge in Berlin (see p . 4 8) , but apa rt fro m thi s th ey d id not en joy success in engine er ing cir cles . Tr aitt eu r returned t o Germany in 1830, afte r wh ich he built lit t le . All t hree foot bri dges wer e listed as p ro tected monum ents in 19 35, since when t hey have all been renovated, gen erally overhau led or recons tructed . 6 Foo t bridge construction certain ly served as a fiel d of exper ime nt at ion in t his early phase of the new construction t ypology, albeit one in whi ch t here were in it iall y ma ny failur es. W hile t he engine ers did not

th e latter emigrated to th e U SA in 1831. The challenges faced by t he engineers of the early wire cable an d wire ro pe br idges are descr ibed br iefl y on th e following pages.

41

42

Retrospective

Suspension bridge over the Cance in Annonay, 1822

--..,.....,....._...-_M

Pont StAntoine, Geneva, 1823

Cable and Wire Rope Bridges Chains proved to be too susceptible to failure - if a link in th e chain were to snap, th is would immediately have dire consequences for the

tion methods opened up new perspe ctives for what had, until then, been

st abilit y of th e whole structure . It was therefore important to de velop an

a risky type of construction . Bruno Plagniol and Claude Henri Navier,

alt ernative, in the form of flexible and durable rope of wrought iron w ires .

both of whom wer e bridge and road engineers , be came interested in th e

This was of particular interest to th e m ining industry, whi ch needed a

idea of suspension bridges in general, and worked out a th eoretical basis

more efficient means of ext ract ion at th e pithead . The problem was

for building with wire rop es .

addressed by Wilhelm August Julius Albert, director of mines in Clausthal in Germany, who inv ented what is supposed to have be en the first ever

Verreet , Roland, Etn kur ze Gcsc hichte des Drahtscils, 20 0 2 2 Peter s, 19 87, p. 171 3 Gabriel, Knut, Hochfeste Zuggliede r, Manuskript , Uni ver sit y of Stuttgar t , 1991- 9 2;

\ Vagncr, Eger mann, 198)

4

Encouragement also came from an un expected qua rter: th e banker and industrialist Benjamin D eless ert , who was appointed pr esident of the

wire rope in [834. It had a diameter of 18mm and co ns isted of three

Banque de France in 1802at the age of 29. Shortly before that, he had set

strands of four wires each .' In the construction industry, the aerial

up a sugar factory in Passy ; it was there that he later decided to build a

spinning process patented by Roebling, who had em igrated in 1831 to the

link between his house and th e factory premises . In [824, work went

USA, m et with success where long (and thus heavy) cabl es were needed,

ahead : Delessert pragmatically chose a co m bina t ion of chains and w ire

because it allowed lightweight Single wires to be "spun in place without

cable bundles for th e 1.2 m wide footbridge, which spanned p m. The

support" into a thick cabl e of parallel wires.' By the second half of th e

main suspension elem ents we re four bundles of 100 wires each , alongside

19th cent ur y, the most important t yp es of cable or wire rope were already

two chains made up of iron bars 4 m long and 2 cm thick. They ran over th e

known and subsequent progres s wa s limited to making improvements in

top of two wooden towers, behind which t hey wer e anchored in massive

the materials, th e cross-sect ional geometry of th e wires, and th eir

masonry blocks. The hangers were attached to them at intervals of t m .!

arrangement in the strands and rope. T

In Europe , it was French engineers wh o pioneered the development of cabl e suspension bridges, with th e help of theoreticians whose calcula-

l

In th e USA, Jo siah Ha zard and Erskine White , manufacturers of

Del es sert, however, did not want to become a bridge builder and he counsell ed anyone with an interest in su spension bridges to seek advice

4 Navier, Claud e Henri, Rapport et Mcmoire sur les Pont s Suspendus, 1823; Ewer t ,

2003 .

p. )8

) Marrey, 1990, P: 121 ; Pet er s, 1987,

P: 68

wire cable , began with (yet again) a footbridge : the first-ever cable

from Navier, Seguin, Dufour, Dupin and Cordier - w ith good r eason :

6 Casciato, Mar istc lla: Le Pon t dc'I ournon , in: L'arr des

suspension bridge, built in 1816 over the Schuylkill Falls in Philadelphia .

after r ead ing an article about cabl e suspe nsio n bridges published in the

7 Marrey, 19 9 0 , P: 121; Pet er s,

Its impressiv e span of 124 m would not be exceeded for decades , alt hough

official gazette Le Moniteur in 1821, th e brothers Marc (1786-1875) and Jul es

it did coll apse shortly after being built, under the weight of a snowfall.

Seguin (1796-1868) had embarked on an audacious project to build a cable

ingenieu r s, p. ' 987.

510

p. 68 f.

8 Pet ers, 1987, 9

p. 124 r. p. 122

Marre y, 19 9 0,

Photographs taken in summer 2007

sus pe ns io n brid ge across th e River Rh on e between Tain and Tournon . h Onc« agai n , th e new t yp e o f co ns t r uc tion was fir st t r ied out o n a foot bridge: in

18 22 ,

Seguin and Navicr built a sma ll bridge across t he Cancc,

ncar Vcrnosc lcs Annonay, on a propert y belon ging to Mar c Seg uin off wh at is now th e

[) 27 0

ro ad . Over a metre wid e , th e bridge ma nag ed a

spa n of 18 m .? It was car r ied by six cable bundles of eight wires eac h , \\ ith t lu- deck resting o n four of th em and th e ot he r t wo serYing add it ion all x as hand rail s. In th e middle , it was g uye d down t o lar ge ro ck s in th e ri vcr to pr e\ ent it fro m sway ing badl y. Today th e brid ge , whi ch wax later st re ngt hen ed with t w iste d wire rop es, is a sor ry sight : it is falling apar t, as arc th e buildi ngs of th e form er paper facto r y. It is, how ever, st ill po ssible to mak e o ut th e rudim ent s of th e wire assembly. Furt he r ex per ience lor th e Tain -Tournon bridge was gained with th e co nst r uct io n of a nar r o w footb rid ge span n ing 30 m ac ro ss th e Gal au re at St Vallier, \\ hich stood until 1844 , S and a bridge acro ss th e Eyr ieux between St Fo rt unat and St Lau re nt , th e sto ne portals of whi ch sti ll exist. Another It)()tbridge with an expe r ime ntal cha rac ter was built rou ghl\ at th e sam e tim e by Bruno Plagniol. H is so n Fran coi s lat er w rote th at it had been

18

m lon g and

90

em w ide and had crosse d th e Ri ver

Pavr c ncar Chorncr ac . He o m it te d to m ention th at his fath er's bridge had been dcst ro vcd by a high wi nd soo n afte r const r uc t io n. " Doubts were ind eed voiced about th e safety of thi s ty pe of br idge . Seguin , who was a technician t hro ugh and through, as well as a m echani cal "n gine"r and tran sport organiser, did not lack practi cal proofs, whi ch he

43

Retrospective

44

Passerelle Saint Vincent, 1832, 75 m span

published in 1824 in Des ponts enfi l defer [O n iron wire bridges J. That summer , work began on the Pont de Tournon across the River Rh on e, for

second ha lf of the ce nt ury. Givin g examples here ca n only convey a sma ll

whi ch th e Seg uins bore t he full costs and ri sk . To st iffen th e deck, th ey

part of the histor y of bridgebu ildin g as we sketc h it out country by co untry .

used th e railings, designing th em as trussed gi rde rs . Complet ed in 1825,

To sta rt w ith, we focu s on Lyon, becau se th e city at th e confluence of th e

th e bridge was unfortunately demolished in 19 65 .

Rh one and Saone river s was endo wed wi th several historically signi fica nt

The fir st cable suspe nsion br idge for public use, how ever , was built in Sw itze rl and, by Seguin in coope rat ion w it h Henri Dufour. Seguin's

of 1852. Th e latter two suspe nsio n br idges were blown up by German tro-

(1787 -1875) suffic iently to awak en his int er est in th e w ire cable br idge. '

ops on 1 and 2 September 194 4 , but th ey wer e recon struct ed under th e

On I Augu st 1823, th e world 's fir st public br idge to be suppor ted on ly by

directi on of Andre Mogar ay after th e wa r.»

in Geneva . With a width of 2 m and a length of 84 rn, this foot br idge was

19 9 0 .

p. 122; Pet er s ,

Pelk c , '98 7, p. 69 3 For a co mpilatio n of th e first

articles since 1807 . sec Peters, ' 987,

p. 69

4 Pelletier, Jean, Ponts et Quais

de Lyon, Lyon, 20 02 , P'

21

f.

of Lyon w ith toda y's cit y ce nt re across th e River Saone since 25 O ct ob er 1832, and it may be accepted as being th e or iginal structure . To th e sout h

each ; it was calculate d for a load of approximately 160 peop le and was

of it are the Passer elle du Palais de Ju st ice , a cable- st ayed bridge fr om

guyed in several places to count er act deformati on .

19 83- 84 , and furth er south th e Passer elle Saint Georges , whi ch delights

th e visitor with its beaut iful proportions and its wa lled steps leading up

loads, becaus e no tradition had yet been built up : no body of knowledg e

to the colum ns on which t he steel pylons stand . T he Passer elle du College,

based on accumu lated expe rience. For thi s reason , it is impossible to

whi ch is suspended from two sto ne pylon s that st and in th e river bcd ,

u nderestim ate th e importance of th e publicati on s, above all those by

cro sses the Rho ne in the east of th e inner city. Renovated in 19 9 6 , it has

Claud e Henri Navier (1780 -1836) , that ce me nte d co n fide nce in th e new

benefit ed gre atly from vehicle ban on th e banks of th e Rhone, whi ch have

typ es of str uct u re . 2 Articles abo ut this t yp e of bridge ar e few and far

been land scap ed as a pedestrian zone .

between , but to thi s day it is st ill producin g beautiful footbridges in Marre y.

The 2.8 m wid e Passer elle Saint Vince nt has connect ed th e old part

suspe nde d from six wire cables across tw o bays of approximately 4 0 m

Ther e wer e ris ks involved in build ing larger bridges for great er

'9 87, p. 70 f. 2 L'Art de l'ingeni eur, p. p 8;

footbridges ove r a shor t period . They incl ude th e Passer elle Saint Vince nt of 1832, th e Passer elle du Co llege of 1844 , and the Passer ell e Saint Geor ges

ideas and ex pe r iences inspired and encouraged Guillaum e -H enri Dufour

wire cables, th e Pont St Antoine, was inau gurat ed by Dufour and Seguin

I

Throughou t Europ e, suspe nsion bridges spre ad very qui ck ly in th e

Lyon ho sts a world-famous festi val of light an so, as part of th e

ever- ne w var iatio ns .sJoseph Chaley, a pupil of th e Seg uins , achieved a

revitalisation programme, light ar t ists wer e co m m issioned to beautify

span of 273 m at an early dat e with h is bridge across th e Saane in Fribourg.

th e enti re ce nt ral di strict. Amo ng other th ings, th ey design ed d ram at ic

He owe d mu ch to Louis Joseph Vicat's ide a of weavin g th e suspensio n

n ight- ti me lighting schem es for the three aforeme ntione d bridges, keeping

member s from single wires in th eir final positi on on site , with th e load

in harmon y with th eir famil iar app ear ance by day. They have also man aged

di stributed equally to each of th is br idge's 1,056 wires . The importance of

brilliantly to avoid da zzlin g passer s-by, or forci ng them to inch their way

Vicat's co ntr ibut ion to th e quality of wire cable production is undisputed .

forward in th e da rk, or oth erwise disorienting th em in the slightes t .

Passerelle Saint Georges, 18 52, 8 7.5 m free span

Passerelle du College , 1844 , main span 109 m, t otal 198 m

45

46

Retrospective

Peebles, 1905

IIkley, 1934

T he reason s why so m an y of th e first cable br idges collapse d wer e (bes ides th e as yet imp erfect method s of sta tic and dynam ic analysis) th at the iron w ire produ ced at th e time developed fatig ue un der alte rnating stres s and was susce ptible to brittle frac t ure s, as well as bein g difficult to ancho r. Furthermore , the compara t ively flexibl e and light weight superstruct ures wer e susce pti ble to vibra tions . T hese problems wer e br ou ght und er co ntrol once tough and fati gu e -resist ant ste els becam e available and th e superst r uctures were suffi cien tly braced by t ru ss fra mes, heavy deck gir ders , or addit ional guy cables. For the firs t half of th e [9th cent ury, how ever, the sce pticism show n to wards th e new ty pe of str uct u re was not un jus tifi ed . T he leadin g cou ntry in the early yea rs of cable bridge co nst r uctio n, after [S22, is considered to be France : esti mates of the number built there vary fro m

300

to 500. In Ens land, ind ustr y cer tai n ly develop ed to meet a

wide range of appl ication s, even th ough engineeri ng received nothing like as mu ch support ther e as it d id in France .' The approach taken by British engineers can be describ ed as pr act ical and pr agm atic; for building bri dges, they placed the ir trust in chain systems rath er t han in novel wi re cable .

I

Amo uroux , l.cmoine, 19 81,

p. 6 ~; 2

Pet er s, ' 987, P' ' 4 4

Drewr y, Charles Stuart ,

I S ~ 2 , cite-d in Pet er s, 1987. P:

Charles St uart Drewry ([ S05 -I SS[) maintained tha t w ire was impractica l

146; Kemp, Emory L., Samuel Brown : Britain's Pionee r

for anything th at excee ded t he scale of a footbridge . 2

Suspe nsion Bridg CARLOS F ER NA ND EZ CASA DO

22 ~

227

J O H NSO N , Phil ipp

238

225

34

OTTO, F RE I

49

aV E AR U P

P AR T N ER S

&

36

140 , 16 8

247

Architects, Engineers

252

22, 15 8

PALLAD IO, A n drea P ALM , M ichael

229 2[ 7

PAUL, Marti n

2[8

PAUSE R , A lfred PAW SO N , J ohn

20

P ERRON ET, J e a n R odolphe

P O LARI S, A lfa

204

V IRLOG EUX, Michel

226

VOG EL + PARTN ER

4 2,43

42

WALTH ER, R ene

S EG U IN, Ju le s

42

WAYSS, G u stav Adolf 54

Rem v 26 &

P RI TC H AR D , Thomas F arnol

PARNT ER

26

246 20 8

PUS HAK AR KTE KTE R

246

SM EATON, J ohn

237

R EIT ZEL , Erik

R EN NI E, J ohn R ESAL, J e a n

W EISZ, H .

SOAN E, S i r J ohn

22

W ES

W I EGA N D , W erner WH ITB Y, BIRD

P AR T N ER

&

237,2 39 &

W IL KIN SON EY RE

174 , 186,2 4 2,243,2 4 5,247

224

WOLF ENSB ERG ER, Rudo l f

S USTRAN S

RI CO LAI S, R o b ert L e

76 , 94 , [36, 22 [

WSP

T AM MS, F rie d rich

76

Gr-ou e 24 4 , 245

Z EIN ING ER ARCHITE KT EN

227

Z IAN E

218

Z I ESEL , Wolfdietrich

3 LHD [ 70

88

24 4

T EL FO R D, T homas

36

153

T H E M ARK F ISHE R ST U DIO

RIT T ER , Karl Wilhelm

52, 5 6

T O DT , Fritz 59

RI TT ER, J o s ef 24

T ORROJ A, E duar do

R O EB LI N G , J ohann August R UTTI GER, M a ximili an

38, 4[ ,4 2

23 I

R U ETTI MAN N , T oni 198

224

24 3

68 68 , 16 6

TO R RO JA, J ose Anton io

210

T O RTI , F abio

40

T R AI TT EUR , W ilhelm von

32

TRI EST, F e rd i n a n d von

T R O YAN O , L e onardo F ER N AN DEZ SA U ERZAPFE, Martin SAUND ER S, Todd S CARPA, Carlo

'3 4

206

> FE R N AN DE Z TROYAN O , L e onardo U W E TIETZ E

&

74

[77

245

T EC HN IK ER

160

26

ST ORME R > J AN STORME R PA RT N ER

238 [44, 226

206

STIGLAT, K lau s 59

STRASKY, J i ri

'36, 15 6 , 24 3

110 , '36, 154, 156 , 16 3,

W IL KIN SON, J oh n

STUDIO B EDN AR SKI

16 6

[7 8

PA RTNERS

WI LH ELMSEN , T ommie

[ 24 , 221

P ART N ER P AR N T ER

&

&

225

228

PART N ER

SPE ER > ALBE RT S P EER

RI EBEN BAU ER, J ohann

RU F, S e p

&

SOBEK > W ER N ER S OB EK I N G ENI EUR E

SU ESS UNO STALLE R I N GENI E U R E

R FR RI C E FRANC IS RI CHI E

74

36, 4 7,241

229

RIIl ER A, J Os e E ugen io

74

W ENAWE SER, O tto

STROBL, Wolfgang

26

227

W EIL AND, Si lvio

36

204

R ELLI N G BAU STATIK

174

SMIT H, W i lliam

ST EFAN POLONY I

PART N ERS

&

B R OW N

&

7 2, 80 , [30

W ER N ER SOBE K I N GENI EU R E

SPIELMANN, A lai n

R AM BOLL WH ITBY BI R D

R EDPAT H

[9 0

54

STA UBLI, KU R ATH Q UADR IC I N GENI EU R E

W EBST ER, 11

36, 4 7, 24 [

SMITH, J o hn

P O LO N YI > STEFA N P O LON YI

> W H ITBY, BIR D

239 228

S EGUIN , Marc

S KM ANT HONY HU N TS

235

POLONCEA U, A ntoine

PR O GEEST

S CHONHE RR, Torbe n S CHULITZ + PARTN ER

S IV I ER O, E nzo

23 [

P ET ER U NO LO CHN ER PLAGN IOL, Bru n o

229

V I EZ EN S, L u dwig

S CK ELL , Frie drich L udwig von 32

242

232,233,234

P ED ELTA

4 9 ,71 , 9 0 , 92, [3[, [6 0

S C HLA ICH, J org

PAR N T ER

224

24 7 38

S CHLA ICH B ERGE RMANN u nd PART N ER

V ERANTIUS, FA UST US

7 8,79 ,9 0 ,9 2,108,112, [ [ 4 , [82 -[85, 189 ,

V IFQ UA IN, J e an B aptiste

222,226,2 27,228 ,229,23 0,239

V ICAT, L ou is -Jo s eph 4 2, 54

39, 4 4

2 [7

2 [8

253

Index of Places

Nordpol Bridge A(;E:--I

236

B O BLI N G E N

23 2

A .\ \S TE R D A :' \

ANG E RS

FI G EAC

I 12 , I 19

B O DMI N , C ORN W ALL

AUARRAS

B OUDR Y

24 7

231

A:--IDO A IN

223

West Park Bridge

49

AC HBE RG

AR D EZ

' 3, P

A SSE :--I S

2 )2

Holbein Footbridge

96

Iron Bridge

223

1) 0

236

F RE D R I K ST A D FR EI BUR G

Port Bridge Vegesack

FRI BOURG

224

241

BRU G ES

C A M BR ID G E

B.-\D E N -BADE N

C ASC INE

222

Port Bridge

14 6

CO M ACC H IO

174

B ED FORD

C R ETE I L

B FI . I. H ; ARD E- SUR - VA l. SE R I N E B E N SH EIM

D OL E

.tbtei Bridge 223

121

GR AZ

2 24

DRYIlUR GH DU SS ELDORF

36,241

B ERLI N K O P E NI C K

DUMFRI ES 36

40

22 4

HAMBURG

22)

184

36, 47

66

DURH AM

E DZE l. 1.

Museum Bridge 232

EGG

Pasarela Padre Arrupe 233

ESS I NG

Ponce da Ribera H BIR CHERWEID

H A N O V ER

Expo Bridqes Skywalk

72

24 1

H ERI s Au

)0

49 24

H ITTI SAU

>

241

23,51

Kumma Bridge

2 2)

ESS LING EN EX ETE R

226

226

H ENGSTE Y

16 6

19 3

134

GROS SENHA IN GR E NOBLE

BI LB AO

Campo de Volancin Bridge

189

Wiecker Bridge

)4

Katzbuckel Bridge

19 3

39

)1

DUISBURG

Expo Bridge

Lion Bridqe 4 8

2 16

Ry ck Bridge

Brid,qe in the Chatl ott enburq Pare 32 Gothenbura Footbridqe 223

36

GR EIF SWAL D

2 37

Gericke Footbridge

B E RWI CK

GIU ,\l AGLlO , M AG GI A-TAL

D OR E N-A LB ERS CHWE NDE

222

233

Pont d'en Gomez 0 de la Princesa H,

) 2

G LASG OW

D ESSAU

B ERLI N

BER N E

Iron Bridge

23 7

D EIZI SAU

2 22

LI G NO N -Lo EX

Pasarela de Sant Feliu 233

36

2 37

206

B ER G E N

>

26

2 46

CO RCA POLO

2 42

GIRO N A

CON WA Y C A ST L E

2 19

G ATW I CK

18 6

G E N EVA 44

14 0

C OI M B RA

202

B ARUTH B ASEL

10 6

24 6

)4

COA LB ROO K DALE

Las Glorias Bridge

1)2

GAT ESHEAD

22

T AVO LA

I)J

C HAZEL ET

BAR CEl. O NA

44 1S3

18 8

BAD H O .\ l B U R G VON DER H OH E 222

38

126

130

F Ro JAc H

GA ISSAU

BAMB ERG

I J2

FR AU E NF ELD

Bridge by G. Wayss H BR IST OL

AUB ERY Il.I.IERS

224

2 25

22 5

52

FRA SC O

BR EM E N

41,1 0 0

237

FR A NK FURT

BR A N D E N BURG A N D ER HAV E L

A:--INOKA Y 4 3

2I6

F ELDKIRCH

B O CHUM

M ETTI N G E N

H OR N CLIFF H O T TO N

15 9

242

218

HU NI N GU E

1]6

2 10

233

254

Ind ex of Places

46

I LKL EY

LYO N

44

24 6

PADU A

I N VERC AULD

47

Passerelle du CollCse 44

P A L EN CI A

I NVERM ARK

19 8

Passerelle Saint Georqes 44

PARI S

Passerelle Buttes- Chaumont 40

Passerell e Saint Vincent 4 4

32

K ASS E L

10 8

KEH LH EIM

28

K E\V G AR D EN S

51

L AN G EN ARG EN

49

38

L OH N E

19

10 0

20 8

P O STBRID G E ,

Bellm outh Passaq e 244 Brids e at th e Royal Victor ia Dock Bridp es to Babylon

24 3

Floatmq Brids e 244

138

R APP ER SWI L

178

I

19

RIJ EK A

170

R IP OLL

16 4

R O N G E L L EN > T R Av ER sI N A T O BE L

Temporary Bridpe.fo r A rchitekt urwoche A 1 179

R O N N EBURG

Footb ridq e over th e Mi ttle rer RinS MUR AU MURC I A

227

228

R O ST O C K

Mahlb usen Bridq e 228

216 111, 216

Nort h Brids e 7 9 R OTH

228

217

N AU D E RS

Nell' Te!ford Brids e 24 3

NESSEN TAL N ICE

Rollins Brids e

N IE N B U RG

Roy al Ballet School Brids e 154

16,

Bridoe to th e Wiesn s rounds 227

Plashet School Footbri dq e 24 4 19 0

I

17 2

239

R ENN ES

H uns eiford Bridse 244 Millennium Bridse 10 1, 16 8

56

54

SA I NTES

38

SALFO R D

38

N U RE M BE RG

245 235

SA N T C EL O N I

OB ERHAU SE N -RIPSH OR ST

St Sav iour's Dock Bridg e 24 3

O FF E N BACH

54

S CHA FFHAU SEN

OV R O NNA Z

220

S CH NAITTACH

LU C C A > V AGLI 0 1 SOTT O

OS CHAT Z

219

OXFORD

LU C ER N E

239

SA R R EGU EM I N ES

South Qyay Bridoe 24 3

234

24 0

SA IN T - M AU R IC E

200

Science Mu seum Brids e 156

LORCA

235

P U ENT E LA R EI N A

35

Bridqe in the Deutsches M useum

L O ND O N

2I

22 1

PR AGU E

MUN ICH

226

220

Dartmoor

22 8

P O T SD A M

227

MI ND EN M O Y LA N D

235

P ONTR ESI N A

120

MIDD L ET O N , C U M BR IA

50

78

P O NT EV EDRA

238

M EYL A N

74

36 , 46

P FAFFIKO N > BIR CH ERW EID

89

M ETTI N G E N

238

42

PFOR ZH EIM

36

M ELRO SE

234

L L EIDA

I

Mercha nt s Brids e 136

20

LIG N O N-L o EX L I L LE FJ O RD

P EEB L ES

Brough ton Bridse

19 2,2 26

LI N GENAU

P ASSY

Bn dqe over th e M3 0 motonvay 68

M A N NH EIM

LAVE RT EZZO

L E H AVR E

Brids e over the ,Han zanares 234

MAN CH EST ER

238

239

PAR IS - L A D EF E N SE

Glorias Catalano Footbr idq e

LA NG EN -Bu CH

L E ER

24 2

56

LAE R /M ESC H EDE

L ARR AU

Pont des Arts 26 , 27

M ADRI D

KI N G ST O N -U P O N -HU L L

14 2

Passerell e So!ferino

St ress Ribbon Bridse 7 6

18 2

144

Passerell e Simone de Beau voir

MA IDSTO N E

Lockm eadow Brids e 24 5

LADHOLZ

26, 238

Passerelle D ebil ly

K zw 24 2 KI E L

234

227 22

120

SASSN ITZ

15, 114 , 116

SC H W AN GA U S IER R E

23 229

229

98

S INGEN AM HOH ENT W IE L

229

255

Picture Credits

20 4

SOP If IEN HO L M

SR O MO WCE N IZ NE

247

24~

ST A USTE LL S T D E NI S 239

43

V A LS

Bridge orer the Sitter 17

V ENT

24

82 39

VIE NNA

Erdberger Footbridge

245

Zollamt Bridge

240

STRABOURG

Berfin : p. 103: arc h ive; pp. 106-107: Mik e Schl aic h: P: II I : Ca rlos Fernandez Ca sad o ; p. 116, r ight : Dcu t sc-hcs Museum Muni ch , ph ot ographi c se rv ice, Beato Harr er ; P: 11 8: Jiirgen Schm idt ; p. 120 left , P: 121 : Sc-h laic-h RC'rgerma nn un d Par t ner ; PI" 116 -127: Gr iff, Fircc-o : rp . 140 -14 1: Ch r ist ian Richt cr s, Mun ste r; pp . 1 ~ 4 - 1 H : Nick \Vood, Lond on ; pp . 1 ~ 6 - I P : Jam es Morri s, Lon don; p. ~8: Renderin g Zaha Hadi d ; P: 16" left; Svcn W or ner. Stuttgart ; r ight : Fret Ot to , rind ing Form, II. ; PI" 170 -171; JU ID, Zag re b ; p. 17H: Leo van del' Klcij ; 1'. 179 : Flo r ian l iol zhcrr , Muni ch ; P' IH8; Jiirg Con zett , Chur; P: ,89, ce nt re; Schlaich Bcr gcrmann lind Partner; P: 19 J, Wreck er Brid ge : Brigitt e Braun ; PI" 100 101: Philippe Ruault , Nan te s; pp. 204-105: Er ik Reit zel : PI" 206-207: Todd Sau nde rs; pp . 20 8-209 : P ushak arkit ckt cr ; PI" 116-147, Graz: HelmutTezak; Naudcrs : Vcrc in Alttinster miinz; Strengen : Mucha, Alois, Holzbruc-kcn, Wic sbadcn /Bcrlin , 1995; Vienna, Erdbcr jjcr Foothridge : Alfred Pauscr: Horton and Woluwc Saint -Pier re: [can-Luc Dcru (Daylight); Lucern e: Kantonal c Denkmalpflepc Luzcrn ; l'o ntrcsin a: O tto Kunz]r-;

Ponte Ptar r ale Roma 24 7

~o

STOCK TO N

Garc ia Gr inda , Madrid ; P: 71, left ; Ren e Walth er : P' 82, ri ght ; Leonh ard t , 1994; P: 87; Inst. F. Massivb au , TU

Palazzo Q!1erini Siampaqlia 24 7

40

S TUN 1M K UB El

22 I

V E NI C E

Ganggelibrugg 22 o STA .vIS

histori sch cn Archi te kt u r ; Pet er s, 19 8 7 ; P' )6 and P: 42 left : Pctcr s, 20 0) ; P: 4 0, St Pet er sburg: Ur su la Bau s; P' ~4, Chazc lct: Klau s St iglat, Kar lsruhe ; Offenb ach : Jo rg Rcvm endt , Darmst adt ; Du sseld orf: Stiglat, 19 96 ; Brem en , Tou louse , Sai ntcs : arch ive; P' ~ 6 : Bill, 19 , 5; P: 6,. left : Dvw idag-Rcport ; P: 6H- 69: Ch r ist ina Diaz Mo ren o , Efrcn

VALSO J /T ici no 221

23

ST PETERS BURG

Reprint, Mu ni ch , 19 6 , ; Fischer von Er lach , Entwurf cinc r

62

V AIHI N G E N

ST FOR TUNAT STGALLIN

P: 22, Old Wa lton : archi ve ; Pl': 2 ~, 2" Grub cnm ann : Maggi / Navone , 200 3; p . H, fr om le ft : Fau st o Vera ntio ,

9,60

VAG LI DI SOTTO

2I

2 18

7

f-lackinger Footbridge 2 18

STlITTGART

Bridge at iV/ax Ev t]: Lake 92

94

VRANOV

Bridge on the University o.fStuttgart 23 0 Cannstatier Footbridge 131

W AIl B lI N G E N

Footbridge in Rosenstein Park 9 0

Rems Footbridge I 23 I

Heilbronner StraJ3e Bridge 230

Rems Footbridge II 231

l.a Feru: Footbridge 23 1

W E I LA M R HE IN

l.owent or Footbridge 230

W EI M A R

Praqsau cl Footbridges I and 11 22 9

W E ST WYCO M B E

Schiller Footbridge 88

WI ESBA D E N

2 17

S ULZ

W INC H

80

S URANSU NS

23 64

34

WI N C H EST E R, AV INGTONPA RK

110

S W .-\N SEA

28

49

WE TTINGEN

24,2 17

S TRENGE N

38

W ET T E R

28

STO URH EA D

176

WI N T E R T H U R

WINTE RT HUR - Wi.iLf LlNGEN T AI N

43

WIS SEK ERK E

TA RR STE PS

TH US IS

Ex MOOR

12,2 1

2E

TERRASS A

W6R LITZ

28

124 56

39

28

W OL UW I, SA I NT -PIE RRE

218

~3

TOULO US E

Y V E R D O N - l E S- BAI N S

l'asserellc des so up i r5

~4

Passcrcllc PSG 240 To uRNo N

ZARAGOZA

Bridge overthe inter-city highway

43

T IUVERS INA TOB El ., R O N G E l L E N

Travcrsincr Footbridge I 12 2 Traversincr Footbridge II T 1U'.LO N T HI N 2 2 0

240

22 1

2I2

236

Bridge Pavilion at the Expo 15 8 , 236

Trin : Walter Bieler; Val So j: Martin Hugli;Yvcrdon.lcs-Batns: Beat Widm er: Prag: Jir i Strasky: Bad Homhurg, Hanover, Expo Bridges, Paris-La Defense : Schleich Ikrgerm ann uncl Partn er ; Baden -Baden: Ingenieur gru ppe Baucn , Karlsruh e; Berlin , Ger icke Footbridge und Gothe nbu rg Foothridge : Senator fUr Bau- und \Vohnu ngswescn tpub.). l:uf3gangcrb riicken in Berl in, Berlin , 1976; Hohlingcn : Janson + \Volfrum ; Brandenhurg an del' Havel: Llwc Tietze l.andschaftsarchitcktcn: Brem en : Torstcn Wild c-Schr ot cr; Essing, Potsdam , Ronn cbu rp: Richard J. Dietrich ; Hano ver, Skywalk: Schullt z + Part ner Architc ktcn; Lehne: Claus Bur )'; Oschatz: Mike Schlaich; Schnaitt ach : Ingenieur-Ruro Ludw ig Viczr-ns: Singen am Hohcnt wicl: Michael Palm; Backpack Bridge : Maxim ilian Riitt iger; Asserts: Cor tr ight , Br idging the World , 200 J; Andoain, Llcida,Tcrrassa: Pcdelta : Lcrca, Madr-id, Zaragoza: Car los Fernandez Casado ; Palencia. Pcnt cvcdra : Phccor Ingen iero s Co nsulto rcs; Agen: Gc rr it de Vos; Aubcr-villicr s, Belkgarde-sur -Valscrtnc, Mcylan: Jacques Mossot (www.s tr uct urac. dcu Crc tr -i l: Ger ard Mc t ro n (ww w.structurac .dc}; Do le, Sar rcgucrnincs: Alain Spielmann Architcct c; Figeac, St Den is, Saint-Maurice, Toulouse; Mimram Ingenierie ; l.arrau: hom c.pl anct .nl/ r- br uit oza : Lc Havre; Mar -rev, Lcs Pont Mod crn cs, Paris 199 5"; Rcnnc s: Marc Malinow skv.Trclon : Gro upe At-cora; Exeter; Clive Ryall; Gatwick, London , Sout h Q uay Bridge : W ilkinson Eyre Architects; Kcw: Kcw Gard ens; Kingston-upon -Hull: Mclro well + Benedetti; London, Bridges to Babylon :The Mark Fisher Studios; London, Plashct Schoo l f oo thr idge : Nicholas Cane; London , Hungerford Bridge : Ian Lamhot ; Stoc kton: Lifschutz Davidson Sand ilands; Cascinc di Tavola: Alessandro Adilardi; Com acchio : phot og raphic archives of the commune of Co mrnacchio; Padua: Lorenzo Attoli co; Tur in : Michel Dcnancc; Venice, Palazzo Qu erini Stampalia: Christian Hell: Venice, Pon te Piazzalc Roma:Tobia Zor dan; Amsterdam: Ar up; Sro mowcc Nizne: Pawcl Hawr vszko w All ot he r photograph s; Wiifri cd [)c cha u , St uttgar t \\"\\'\\'.wiIfr icd -d ech au .de

Authors: Ursula Baus, Mike Schlaich Phot ographer : Wilfr ied Dcchau et al. Layout : Moniteurs , Sibylle Schlaich; frei04 publizistik , Ur sula Baus Translatio n into English: Chr is Rieser, New York ; Rtchard Toovey, Berlin English Proofreading: Monica Buckland, Basel Library of Congress Cont rol Number 200793 1248 Bibliogra phic information published by the Ger man Natio nal Libr ar y The Ger man Natio nal Librar y lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data an.' available on the Intern et at http . v/ dnb.d-nb.de. This book is also available in a Ger man language edition ( ISBN 978 -3-76 41 -8 138-7) . This 'work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concer ned, specifically the rights of tr anslation , re print ing, re-use of illustrat ions, recitation, broadcasting, reprodu ction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in data bases. For any kind of use, permi ssion of the copyright owner mu st be obta ined .

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+ Business Media

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