Stardate 20010713.1253 (On Screen): Santiago Calatrava is the most revolutionary architect since Frank Lloyd Wright. His designs for
bridges are beautiful while being
eminently practical. But it is the
Seville bridge which takes my breath away. We are used to vertical lines in large structures, something Calatrava avoids. The Seville bridge is not only beautiful and audacious but it is actually a better design than a more traditional approach. Usually a suspension bridge uses a tower in the middle, with stresses balanced on both sides. But that means that the tower has to have its base in the water, which is far more difficult to do and thus more expensive. Calatrava's Seville bridge places its tower on dry land. And a more traditional suspension bridge like the Golden Gate requires immense anchorages at the ends to carry the force of the main cable. Calatrava's bridge only uses direct cable links from its one tower to the roadbed itself. If you want to know what an engineer means by an "elegant design",
this is an elegant design. When you see one, you have two simultaneous reactions: "What was he thinking??" and "Why didn't
I think of that?"
(discuss)Update 20010714: Lia has actually seen the Seville bridge. (I'm jealous.)
