Dynamic Bridges
With structural engineering in our backgrounds, we’re crazy about bridges here at the BUILDblog. We’re also very lucky to have some incredible bridges right here in the neighborhood. The waterway connecting Lake Washington to the Puget Sound includes 7 bridges (8 if you include the walkway at the locks). For today’s post we’re going to cover the five bridges that are dynamic in nature. What fascinates us most about these operable bridges is that they are designed, both structurally and functionally, in two completely different positions – horizontally and vertically. The engineering has to be worked out in two distinct, and possibly conflicting, scenarios. Architecturally the structures change from a line on the horizon to a vertical mass the size of a small building. Imagine taking any piece of architecture, flipping it ninety degrees and having to reassess it all over again.
Salmon Bay Bridge,1914, 200 foot opening span, single-leaf bascule bridge
Ballard Bridge, 1917, 2,854 feet long, double-leaf bascule bridge
Fremont Bridge, 1917, 502 feet long, double-leaf bascule bridge
University Bridge, 1919, 218 foot opening span, double-leaf bascule bridge
Montlake Bridge, 1925, 344 feet long, double-leaf bascule bridge
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Elevating the discource: Pedestrian Bridges pt. 1 « brute force collaborative — April 23, 2010 @ 12:38 am
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By KUjared, February 12, 2010 @ 10:23 am
Interesting post guys. Still one of my favorite bridges anywhere would have to be the aerial lift bridge in Duluth, Minnesota. I might be a bit biased because I grew up in the general area and have been fascinated with its raising and lowering since I was a kid but I think you’ll appreciate it. It has one fundamental difference in how it operates in that the entire horizontal driving surface is raised straight up instead of hinged in two leafs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duluth_lift_bridge
By Build LLC, February 12, 2010 @ 10:27 am
That’s one hot bridge Jared – I feel a post of aerial lift bridges coming on…
By Knudsen, February 12, 2010 @ 10:32 am
Nice post. You guys mentioned the foot bridge at the Chittenden locks in Seattle which would make a good post in itself – it’s a pretty cool design to raise and lower the water level, allowing passage of boats and pedestrian crossing.
By mike, February 12, 2010 @ 10:50 am
Not in your neighborhood, but the west seattle swing bridge is pretty incredible as well.
http://www.kpffspd.com/images/stories/PDFs/swing%20bridge.pdf
By Build LLC, February 12, 2010 @ 10:57 am
The west Seattle swing bridge is indeed an incredible bridge – we’ve never seen it open though, looking forward to catching it off guard at some point.
By andrew, February 12, 2010 @ 11:35 am
Isn’t it Pallasmaa who says bridges are among our most elegant technologies?
By Aaron, February 12, 2010 @ 9:31 pm
Beautiful post. Thanks for giving consideration to these major civic projects. Early in the 20th century operable bridges were still an engineering marvel.
By jeff bender, February 15, 2010 @ 1:39 pm
great post, guys! bridges are the structures that first turned me on to design… i always hoped to be a civil engineer and build bridges, but at some point advanced mathematics and i parted ways. i think architecture was really my calling anyway – calculus or not.
two bridges that really impressed me as a kid:
the portage lake lift bridge near my childhood home in the UP of michigan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portage_Lake_Lift_Bridge
and the mackinac bridge which was the highlight of any trip “downstate” to visit relatives:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackinac_Bridge
By Gus, February 15, 2010 @ 9:56 pm
There’s actually a rotating artist residency in one of the towers of the Fremont bridge, you can read more about it here: http://www.thebridgereport.blogspot.com/
By Build LLC, February 15, 2010 @ 9:59 pm
@ Jeff – those lift bridges are incredible, we don’t seem to have many here in the northwest, are they regional?
@ Gus – we had no idea about the artist residency, that’s really cool.