The basis for bridge design is often simplification, so that the observer sees the elements that are important.
Noise screens can also be made of willow hedges planted around a soundabsorbing center.
Architectural tasks Buildings and service facilities There are many good individual designs for the roads’ different elements, but harmonizing them with the whole and coordinating them with one another is of decisive importance.
Randers Ringboulevard is a unity, with the noise screens part of the overall design.
Bridges play a key role in road architecture. The bridge’s form is dictated primarily by its construction. A design that makes the construction clear to the observer gives an idea of how forces are distributed and absorbed. The goal is simplification, to permit the observer to see the elements that are important.
The rest stop has evolved over the years from a green lawn with tables and benches to large expanses with a variety of facilities, for example playgrounds, refuse sorting, tourist information, and perhaps kiosks and cafeterias. All these facilities must be coordinated to produce an architectural whole and to harmonize them with the landscape. The design of retaining ponds, baffles, and other earthworks is determined by their function. The result can be poorly integrated facilities whose form is dictated by property borders, without any unity with the landscape.
The bridge’s role in the road system should be emphasized, but minor roads should not be exaggerated with spectacularly designed bridges. The architecture of buildings along freeways should be given high priority. Many gas stations, restaurants, and cafeterias are designed by architects, but their commercial message often triumphs over the overall architectural picture.
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Beautiful Roads - A Handbook of Road Architecture
