Bridges: Materials, Expressions and Design

In its simplest definition, a bridge is a structure that carries a road or railway across a river, valley, road or railway. However, the best of the architects and engineers have always look at it as an opportunity which arises out of a need for an understanding of complexities of structural systems as well as the sensitivity of material expression. It is only when architects and engineers understand this duality, novelty is created which can be utilitarian as well expressive. On one hand, we have the seen the boldness in the steel and concrete bridges designed by masters like Santiago Calatrava and Norman Foster and on the other hand we have the more sublime and subtle expressions of bamboo in bridges designed by Indonesia based designers ASF-ID. In the past, we have seen the genius of Romans when they made arcuated bridges and aqueducts and we have also seen the vernacular ones such as the living-root bridges in the Khasi hills of India. This studio will operate with the ethos of looking for the expressive qualities of a material as a medium of expression for construction, specifying, analyzing and designing of bridges.