Unconventional Structural Forms in Pedestrian Bridge Design

摘要

Trends in pedestrian bridge design are going to overreach the simple idea of connecting point A andrnpoint B. As growing communities have sought to define and differentiate themselves, footbridgerndesign has become an aesthetically pleasant way for communities or neighborhoods to create arnlandmark. Such bridges are incorporating more thoughtful designs, complex engineering, andrnelegant materials as civic revisionists look to pedestrian bridges to make a statement. In this contextrntechnological advances have helped architects and engineers celebrate bridges' structural forms.rnComputer-aided techniques in particular allow designers to create complex shapes and torninvestigate new structural systems and schemes often through a computational morphogenesisrnprocess.rnStarting from these considerations, the paper first presents a review and discussion of recentrnrealizations in the field of pedestrian bridges, calling into evidence how design is more and morernrequiring a multidisciplinary approach, involving the integration of architectural and engineeringrndisciplines. This discussion drives the presentation of some examples that are given in the lastrnsection of the paper. In particular, a few examples of unconventional structural forms potentiallyrnimplementing some of the most challenging concepts previously indicated, and suitable for thernrealization of pedestrian bridges are presented and discussed.