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Bridge with a program?

Sylvester

Have you heard of any other bridges that contain functions like the Vecchio bridge in Firenze?
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~bigler/pictures/europe2002/italy/firenze%20bridge%20(florence).jpg
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~bigler/pictures/europe2002/italy/firenze%20bridge%20(florence).jpg



 
Aug 22, 05 4:47 pm
JordantHarris

They actually did something (sort of) similar to this in columbus ohio. It's not really all that similar, but when they redid the I-670 spur into the city, they had to tear down and rebuild the high street bridge which crosses I-670. High street is the main drag in columbus, and lined with shops and galleries as you get close to downtown. So, rather than have this big gap in the streetfront where the bridge was, they built the bridge much wider, with room on each side for commercial spaces. Kind of a good idea, but I don't know if it worked out that well.

Aug 22, 05 4:51 pm  · 
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JordantHarris

They actually did something (sort of) similar to this in columbus ohio. It's not really all that similar, but when they redid the I-670 spur into the city, they had to tear down and rebuild the high street bridge which crosses I-670. High street is the main drag in columbus, and lined with shops and galleries as you get close to downtown. So, rather than have this big gap in the streetfront where the bridge was, they built the bridge much wider, with room on each side for commercial spaces. Kind of a good idea, but I don't know if it worked out that well.

Aug 22, 05 4:51 pm  · 
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mad+dash

Yes, there was a bridge converted into a single residence in the US...it won an award from architecture magazine I believe in 2004...or possibly late 2003.

Aug 22, 05 4:51 pm  · 
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Elimelech

Cant think of any, but I think the ties with the porn inside of them, that they sell at the Vecchio are the funniest thing I've ever seen. Best bridge shopping ever.
So.... their might be other commercial bridges, none will have such classy goods.

Aug 22, 05 4:51 pm  · 
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larslarson

there's the bridge that goes over the grand canal, i believe,
in venice...same deal. shopping on both
sides...

Aug 22, 05 4:59 pm  · 
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Elimelech

lars that is the vecchio....

Aug 22, 05 5:01 pm  · 
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Elimelech

oops, got confused
in Venice is the Ponte di Rialto

That is where you find the naughty ties

Aug 22, 05 5:04 pm  · 
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Don't give Disney anymore ideas!

Aug 22, 05 5:13 pm  · 
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WonderK

Uh, my senior architecture thesis. Put a whole museum on a bridge. Confused the hell out of my professors, it was a good time.

I'll go home and check out my precedents and get back to you.

Aug 22, 05 5:16 pm  · 
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Elimelech

funny there is a disney store in front of the rialto in venice

Aug 22, 05 5:17 pm  · 
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Aug 22, 05 5:24 pm  · 
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Elimelech

wow Rita youve outdone yourself!!!!
:)

Aug 22, 05 5:28 pm  · 
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instrumentOFaction

off the top of my head, i recall this competition over the Thames:
http://www.britannia.com/panorama/tbridge.html
http://www.johnoutram.com/peabody.html

Although the aforementioned Columbus project does make space that would have otherwise gone to waste, its 'nod' to the "living bridges" of Italy was a bit too heavy handed in terms of ornament...but it does a fairly good job programmatically.

Aug 22, 05 5:29 pm  · 
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back in the late '70s a local architect, jasper ward (no relation), proposed restoration of an abandoned railroad bridge in louisville, incorporating housing along both sides a la vecchio.

the proposal was brilliant and was worked out in detail. people took note at the time: it was published nationally. but nobody here could imagine it, didn't see why anyone would want to live on the (at that point industrial) ohio river waterfront.

nothing happened. the bridge is still abandoned, though there are new plans for reusing it.

there is a model of jasper's proposal still floating around town. it was in a retrospective of ward's career that i organized back in '95. great project.

(he also made a proposal for housing in a group of abandoned grain silos.)

Aug 22, 05 5:32 pm  · 
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larslarson

sort of the same thing..but you could look at
all the new and old proposals for the highline
here in nyc...

Aug 22, 05 5:33 pm  · 
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WonderK

Looked at my program, yeah I got nothing else that hasn't already been mentioned. If you're talking about occupiable space on bridges however, the Charles Bridge in Prague is an excellent precedent. Nothing is built up on it though.

What's this for? I love this stuff.

Aug 22, 05 10:42 pm  · 
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dyske

Zaha hadid and steven holl both did programmed bridge projects as students, hadid was her thesis project

Aug 23, 05 1:37 am  · 
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G-bot

Check out William Gibson's books - concerning the reuse of the Golden Gate bridge. I think this idea was also in Johny Mnemonic.

Aug 23, 05 1:53 am  · 
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bothands

Kevin Roche proposed a crazy multi-storey inhabited-bridge megastructure for the 1976 bicentenial in Phili I believe (you can find it in his Rizzoli monograph).

Aug 27, 05 2:14 am  · 
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Illinois Tollway Oasis
Aug 27, 05 1:17 pm  · 
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AP

aahh, JJ, the first McDonalds I ever ate at (so they tell me), it's btw the house I was born into and the airport...

But, it's less of a bridge than it is an elevated rest stop.

Aug 27, 05 1:27 pm  · 
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abracadabra

under galata bridge

Aug 27, 05 1:28 pm  · 
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bothands

Oh yeah, John, that Illinois Tollway. Isn't there another similar one in the middle of the country spanning Hiway 80? Like in Nebraska Iowa or something. An there's a supermarket bridge spanning the Mass Pike outside of Boston...

Aug 27, 05 1:36 pm  · 
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vado retro

i remember havin a mcdonalds burger at that tollroad stop after an elvis costello/aztek camera concert. good times.

Aug 28, 05 9:19 am  · 
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Mason White

JdesP is referring to Dan Hisel's Heavy / Light House

Aug 28, 05 9:28 am  · 
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Fish

They have been debating something similar to the Ponte Vecchio for a long time in Boston. Of course in a developers hands, something much less authentic is likely to be built. Here is an elderly link with a brief description.


Old Northern Avenue Bridge

Aug 28, 05 10:23 am  · 
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Josh Emig

Raymond Hood had big plans for bridges around Manhattan. I can't find a picture online, but basically every bridge (plus some new ones) around Manhattan became a skyscraper. A classmate of mine also did this as a thesis.

Aug 28, 05 5:31 pm  · 
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Josh Emig

Just one bridge as thesis. Not all of them.

Aug 28, 05 5:31 pm  · 
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i.g.lu.s.

thread resurrection....
Craig Elwood did a cool Bridge house.

Oct 20, 06 6:39 pm  · 
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le bossman

what about all those "oasis" things that cross the turnpikes and contain restaurants?



Oct 20, 06 7:12 pm  · 
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le bossman

what about the craig elwood art center college of design?

Oct 20, 06 7:14 pm  · 
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Medusa

For my last undergrad semester, I had to design a bridge with program. It was upstream from the Ponte Vecchio at the Ponte Alle Grazie. About 6 months or so, there was a competition to design a bridge with program in Venice near the Rialto Bridge. I haven't seen any published images, though.

Anyway, here is my project:

Oct 21, 06 9:35 pm  · 
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Luis Fraguada

If I recall correctly, London had at least one major "living" bridge a few centuries ago. Old London Bridge to be exact . . .finished in 1209 (hells yeah Wikipedia). Too bad it was such a disaster . . . lets not let that ruin our fun.


I recently have seen a few living bridge projects at the AA . . . In general, I really like this concept. I wish I could read the text and such on that image you posted Medusa . . . looks very nice.

Oct 22, 06 6:26 pm  · 
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snooker

You might want to check out the Meritt Parkway Bridges. I believe there are 37 of them along eht Meritt Parkway in Southern Connecticut.
They were constructed during the Great American Depression of the 1930's as a WPA Project. Although they don't have shops for retail
they are significant structures

Oct 22, 06 7:04 pm  · 
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