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The Aesthetics of Bridges – A Questionnaire
Please will you…….
a)Read the names of the 6 bridges set out immediately belowthen
b)read the 4 criteria set out below then
c)look at the 12 photos of the 6 bridges then
d)think how Bridge Number 1 compares with Bridge Number 2, Bridge 3 with 4 and Bridge 5 with 6 then
e)fill out the forms on Pages 4 – 6 making sure your judgments concur with your comparisons in d) then
f)return to me David Blockley at
The Bridges
Bridge Number / Bridge Name / Picture Number1 / GoodwillBridge, Brisbane, Australia / 1.1, 1.2
2 / Gateshead, MillenniumBridge / 2.1, 2.2
3 / Puente del Alamillo,Seville, Spain / 3.1, 3.2
4 / Miho Bridge, Japan / 4.1, 4.2
5 / Second Severn Crossing, UK / 5.1, 5.2
6 / Millau Viaduct, France / 6.1, 6.2
The Criteria
Criterion Number 1
When I first saw this bridge I experienced a powerful emotional reaction.
Comment
This is a measure of your emotional reaction to the bridge - positive or negative. Questions to ask yourself might be:
- Apart from the fact that you may have to cross it - does the bridge draw you towards it? Do you want to look at it further?
- Do you get a feeling of harmony, interest, intrigue, puzzlement?
- Does it annoy or irritate you.
- Is it simply just beautiful or just very ugly?
- Do you want to engage with it or shy away from it?
- Do you feel nothing for it at all – you just aren’t interested in it (apart from the need to use it as a means of crossing).
Criterion Number 2
The bridge is in total harmony with its context
Comment
A bridge in context is an exercise in composition as surely as when an artist paints a picture or prepares a sculpture.
Good composition requires a bridge to fit its context. Good composition needs balance. However whilst symmetry is balance, balance is more than mere symmetry. Asymmetry can be balanced if it creates a sense of interesting flowon a visual journey without rifts or abrupt changes.
An ugly bridge may create interest simply through its ugliness but the feeling of disharmony makes you draw back so here is where you mark down an ugly bridge.
Questions to ask yourself might be:
- Are the proportions and scales appropriate? Does the bridge dominate,or is too small for, its location?
- Does the bridge sit heavily on the ground?
- Does it lack a lightness of touch so it appears out of balance?
- Is it too angularwith only straight lines and clashing hard edges?
- Does it have curves that create softness and emotional warmth?
- Does it have details that result in deterioration- e.g. rust on concrete?
- Do lines follow the flow of the internal forces?
Criterion Number 3
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen movement
Comment
Photographic snapshotsof people are more interesting when people are not merely standing still with arms by their sides but are doing something natural. A sculpture is effective when there is implied movement. For example the muscles of Michelangelo’s David impress you because you feel David is strong and athletic – but he is just a static slab of stone after all.
As a viewer you become engaged with what is going on and you imagine. You see an object – a photo, painting or sculpture which is still and unmoving but which has potential movement – frozen movement.
So just as a home snapshot photograph or a sculpture is more interesting if there is frozen action so a bridge can be more interesting if it seems slightly off balance.
For example an arch inclined at an angle in Calatrava’s CampoVolantinBridge – see attached picture – has an inclined arch which gives you a feeling of potential movement. Indeed the arch would fall over sideways were it not for the cables which mutually brace the deck and the arch into a single whole. The leaning arch gives a sense of strength but also of fragility. It is this conflict that makes the bridge unusual and interesting.
Questions to ask yourself might be:
- Does thebridge give you a sense of visual movement? (Of course we must immediately distinguish this artistic concept from actual physical movements due to wobbles and vibrations.)
- Is the visual movement engaging?
- Do you find your self imagining where the movement is leading?
Criterion Number 4
The bridge has a clear form that makes sense to you.
Comment
The fourth criterion is about clarity of flow of line, shape, texture and contrast. It is the very essence of what a bridge is about aesthetically. Is its form pleasing to the eye?
Simplicity may be sufficient for clarity of flow but it isn’t necessary. Simplicity can be plainness, lack of inappropriate ornament or pretentiousness, freedom from intricacy and numerous divisions into bits. But simplicity must be understandable, however it needn’t be austere. Simplicity is straightforward, truthful and direct. It implies modesty, innocence and purity with integrity and unity. Simplicity may be easy, natural and may be primitive.
The opposite of simplicity is clutter. It is distracting and takes our attention away from the essence of something. So by reducing clutter we can more easily focus on what is important.
Questions to ask yourself might be:
- Do you find the bridge pleasing to the eye?
- Do you get any sense of its essence i.e. what it is about aesthetically?
- Doyou feel that the lines, shapes, shades, textures, contrasts, make clear sense to you?
- Is there any sense of pretentiousness? Is there no over elaborate ornament? Is it too austere?
- Is the simplicity of the bridge straightforward, truthful and direct? Is it modest, innocent and pure with integrity and unity?
- Is the simplicity easy, natural and primitive?
The AssessmentsPage 1 of 3
Please circle a number below – 1 = totally disagree, 5 = totally agree
GoodwillBridge, Brisbane, Australia / Totally disagree / Totally agreeWhen I first saw this bridge I experienced a powerful emotional reaction. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge is in total harmony with its context / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen movement / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge has a clear form that makes sense / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
Please add any comments
Gateshead Millennium Bridge, UK / Totally disagree / Totally agree
When I first saw this bridge I experienced a powerful emotional reaction. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge is in total harmony with its context / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen movement / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge has a clear form that makes sense. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
Please add any comments
The AssessmentsPage 2 of 3
Please circle a number below – 1 = totally disagree, 5 = totally agree
Puente del Alamillo,Seville, Spain / Totally disagree / Totally agreeWhen I first saw this bridge I experienced a powerful emotional reaction. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge is in total harmony with its context / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen movement / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge has a clear form that makes sense / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
Please add any comments
Miho BridgeJapan / Totally disagree / Totally agree
When I first saw this bridge I experienced a powerful emotional reaction. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge is in total harmony with its context / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen movement / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge has a clear form that makes sense / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
Please add any comments
The AssessmentsPage 3 of 3
Please circle a number below – 1 = totally disagree, 5 = totally agree
Second Severn Crossing / Totally disagree / Totally agreeWhen I first saw this bridge I experienced a powerful emotional reaction. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge is in total harmony with its context / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen movement / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge has a clear form that makes sense / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
Please add any comments
Millau Viaduct, France / Totally disagree / Totally agree
When I first saw this bridge I experienced a powerful emotional reaction. / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge is in total harmony with its context / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen movement / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
The bridge has a clear form that makes sense / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5
Please add any comments