History and Esthetics in Suspension Bridges
This article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYThis article has a reply.
VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of the Structural Division
Volume 103, Issue 8
Abstract
The George Washington Bridge raised two fundamental problems in the history and esthetics of bridge design: (1)The relationship between esthetic preference and structural performance; and (2)the relationship between the architecture of bridges and their engineering. The first relationship was put in terms of the flexible deck: the George Washington Bridge, as originally completed in 1931, had almost no vertical stiffness. The second relationship arose in the design of the towers, for which architectural plans envisioned masonry forms while engineering requirements dictated a steel structure. Thus, that design followed from two questionable assumptions: (1)The deck could be without vertical stiffness; and (2)the steel towers should be covered with a masonry facade. The first led directly to the failure of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940, and the second carried forward the idea that in large-scale structures, the engineering form needed an architectural facade to be elegant.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of the Structural Division
Volume 103 • Issue 8 • August 1977
Pages: 1655 - 1672
Copyright
© 1977 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published in print: Aug 1977
Published online: Feb 1, 2021
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.