Unit 3
by Lola Osunneye
Brief Todays bridges are often very basic and usual. Being available to everyone, they are essential to go from one place to another lacking any excitement or further purpose. My chosen task is to enthuse the idea of the predictable bridge concept. Considering the design will fit in within an area. Also bearing in mind the problem and what the solution could be.
Specification My initial idea was to design a road bridge because the idea became visual in one of my dreams. To become aware of such in a dream, I thought I should make it a reality. Visions are usually out of this world, your mind creating magnificent things that can be real or unreal. I want to design a bridge that is quite exciting and somewhat different from the typical existing bridges. and for me to achieve this purpose, I figured its best to create a pedestrian bridge instead, due to the fact that with a road bridge my target audience wont have time to gaze at the interesting structure as cars will just drive past. With a pedestrian bridge people would have the time to stop and stare and my bridge would fulfil its persistence.
Pedestrian Bridge - Ribeira da Carpinteira by Carrilho da Graça arquitectos
I took interest in this structured bridge because of its simplicity and classy-like colours used. It definitely blends in with the environment. I’m intrigued by the zigzag design, adds more fascination rather than a straight plain square bridge.
This bridge is very vibrant, dynamic and mystic like the Chinese snake. It’s a unique structure with the roof and deck covered with wood and there is exposed steel painted white which allows it to appear lighter. The ceiling is more of a reflector of the artificial lighting that is fixed into the handrails. During the day, the inner structure is shown to capture the shimmering reflections of the sun on the water. The bridges purpose was to “provide for a dedicated space on the river, a room over the water, more than merely acting as an engineering device that solves a communication problem”.
QUINGPU PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
Architects: CA-DESIGN / Architecture and Urban Planning Location: Shanghai, China
The structure does come across extraordinary but it fulfills its purpose and I would be intrigued to walk through it.
THE WEBB BRIDGE
This pedestrian bridge is located in Docklands. With its snake-like structure it swirls round the water creating a more modernized bridge.
ANT Bridges I took interest in observing ant bridges because its intriguing how they help each other to cross over creating fascinating shapes.
I love the idea that they all overlap and the joining of each ant in order to get to the other side
LOCATION – CHAFFORD HUNDRED GORGE
LOCATION – CHAFFORD HUNDRED GORGE
Photographer: Lola Osunneye
I visited my location and these are the photographs I took. It was a beautiful and relaxing environment to explore with a lot of nature involved
I have lived in Chafford Hundred, Essex for 9years now and I’ve never visited this Gorge due to the fact that it doesn't’t seem exciting and no one really talks about going there. The purpose of my design is to attract more people, not just local residents but boost the attraction rate and add to the other, such as Lakeside Shopping Centre.
There were many side walks and pathways, quite an amount of walking involved, designing this bridge would allow less and it will be easier for people to get to one place to another quickly and maybe this would attract more elderly people, it would more or less be appropriate for them. Walking through the Gorge there was a large amount of mud everywhere, not appealing to walk unto and it was quite slippery which will be dangerous for the community if not wearing the correct shoes, by having a bridge people wont have to stress about being careful and it would make things more easier.
The Gorge is just on the other side of this pathway, by walking here you can roughly see a birds eye view of the compound. This picture is to show what its surrounded by, so by placing my exciting bridge it would definitely be noticeable
BRIDGE DESIGN SKETCHES
DONE WITH BIRO PEN
MODEL MAKING -Experimenting
I decided to produce a smaller prototype, experimenting with the material using bits and pieces cut by the laser cutter. I didn’t want an ordinary straight bridge and it was effective using the overlapping techniques inspired by the ant bridges .
There are resemblances to the design
Vivian Chiu – Inception chair
MODEL MAKING
I took inspiration from the Quingpu pedestrian bridge to create sketches that led to this design. The overlapping idea merged from the ant bridges and the pattern shown in this bridge. It was interesting the way the laser left burnt edges on the mount board giving it more depth when photographed, also displaying resemblance to this bridge with the colours.
QUINGPU PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
This model was the finishing result taken from my simple drawing. It started out as a straight triangular shape and when transferring the design onto 2D Design I made adjustments so that the laser cutter would produce pieces instead of a whole shape. It made it easier for me to produce something more exciting by overlapping and joining together the pieces.
My model has similarities to the Pedestrian Bridge by Carrilho da Graรงa arquitectos. I took inspiration from the architect and created a walkway just like this one.
MODEL MAKING
This is the outcome from another of my drawn designs continuing the overlapping technique taken from the ant bridges. I had separate cut pieces and glued them together in a way that looks more exciting. The bridge had similarities to ferns or skeleton bones or spider webs as it’s a repetitive pattern
QUINGPU PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
Drawing
I particularly love the outcome of this model mainly because of its detail, the whole overlapping technique works well with it and rather creates more effectiveness. The illustrations shown reflect on how the model was created and what was drawn into 2D design to be finely cut by the laser cutter.
EXPERIMENTING
As an extension, I decided to work with a different material such as wire and play around by overlapping and bending it in the same technique used to make the previous bridges.
I think the overlapping technique works better with paper rather than wire but it is quite interesting that the wire makes it appear like scribbles.
RESEARCH BRIDGE STUDIO BY SAUNDERS
I came across this bridge while doing more research into modernized pedestrian bridges. This bridge is very abstract. From the side elevation, it is shaped like a parallelogram , balanced above the landscape. It becomes more transparent with a glass entry and a large square window at the other end of the room.
FINAL MODEL
FINAL MODEL
The idea for this bridge emerged from The Saunders bridge and also one of my designs I drew out. To produce a different model I decided to create it with a more rectangular shape including patterns from the first bridge. The black and white imagery really gives you a pleasant insight of the structure, reflecting the natural light that goes through it.
Here, shows the entrance and the closed end of the bridge. The patterns work well which will reflect natural lighting and it looks exciting being a bridge that only goes half way.
This bridge was created with a closed end just like the Saunders bridge. The reason behind that is I thought about my location and most areas where the water lies if I was to build a straight bridge that you can walk all the way through, there is no other end, you’ll be walking into a brick wall.
I chose to allow people to have the opportunity to be above the water and have a glass ending where people can view what is on the other side, so in the end the bridge will be useful. I believe the final outcome was successful, with it being half way , it is still an interesting bridge and shape and It will definitely attract my target audience.
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This sketch shows a birds eye view of my locater and how far in the bridge goes over the water.
EVALUATION The project overall was successful as I reached my aim in designing a spectacular bridge. I believe I solved a problem with a new solution as my final model. I got to a conclusion that the bridge would be more suitable as some sort of shelter that goes in half way as there is way on the other side but a closed ending. People can have the opportunity to be above the water and viewing the scene from a higher perspective rather than being on the ground. I am certain the bridge would attract more attention from the community as its in a perfect place that can’t be unnoticed. I enjoyed working on this project and the delight of bringing to life a design or idea shown in my dream. I also learnt to design something less curvy and explored different shapes.