1
The Aesthetics of Bridges – A Questionnaire
Please will you…….
a)
b)
c)
d)
Read the names of the 6 bridges set out immediately below then
read the 4 criteria set out below then
look at the 12 photos of the 6 bridges then
think how Bridge Number 1 compares with Bridge Number 2, Bridge 3 with
4 and Bridge 5 with 6 then
e) fill out the forms on Pages 4 – 6 making sure your judgments concur with
your comparisons in d) then
f) return to me David Blockley at D.Blockley@bris.ac.uk
The Bridges
Bridge
Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
Bridge Name
Picture Number
Goodwill Bridge, Brisbane, Australia
Gateshead, Millennium Bridge
Puente del Alamillo, Seville, Spain
Miho Bridge, Japan
Second Severn Crossing, UK
Millau Viaduct, France
1.1, 1.2
2.1, 2.2
3.1, 3.2
4.1, 4.2
5.1, 5.2
6.1, 6.2
The Criteria
Criterion Number 1
When I first saw this bridge I experienced a powerful emotional
reaction.
Comment
This is a measure of your emotional reaction to the bridge - positive or negative.
Questions to ask yourself might be:
 Apart from the fact that you may have to cross it - does the bridge draw
you towards it? Do you want to look at it further?
 Do you get a feeling of harmony, interest, intrigue, puzzlement?
 Does it annoy or irritate you.
 Is it simply just beautiful or just very ugly?
 Do you want to engage with it or shy away from it?
 Do you feel nothing for it at all – you just aren’t interested in it (apart from
the need to use it as a means of crossing).
2
Criterion Number 2
The bridge is in total harmony with its context
Comment
A bridge in context is an exercise in composition as surely as when an artist
paints a picture or prepares a sculpture.
Good composition requires a bridge to fit its context. Good composition needs
balance. However whilst symmetry is balance, balance is more than mere
symmetry. Asymmetry can be balanced if it creates a sense of interesting flow
on a visual journey without rifts or abrupt changes.
An ugly bridge may create interest simply through its ugliness but the feeling of
disharmony makes you draw back so here is where you mark down an ugly
bridge.
Questions to ask yourself might be:
 Are the proportions and scales appropriate? Does the bridge dominate, or
is too small for, its location?
 Does the bridge sit heavily on the ground?
 Does it lack a lightness of touch so it appears out of balance?
 Is it too angular with only straight lines and clashing hard edges?
 Does it have curves that create softness and emotional warmth?
 Does it have details that result in deterioration - e.g. rust on concrete?
 Do lines follow the flow of the internal forces?
Criterion Number 3
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen movement
Comment
Photographic snapshots of people are more interesting when people are not
merely standing still with arms by their sides but are doing something natural. A
sculpture is effective when there is implied movement. For example the muscles
of Michelangelo’s David impress you because you feel David is strong and
athletic – but he is just a static slab of stone after all.
As a viewer you become engaged with what is going on and you imagine. You
see an object – a photo, painting or sculpture which is still and unmoving but
which has potential movement – frozen movement.
So just as a home snapshot photograph or a sculpture is more interesting if there
is frozen action so a bridge can be more interesting if it seems slightly off
balance.
3
For example an arch inclined at an angle in Calatrava’s Campo Volantin Bridge –
see attached picture – has an inclined arch which gives you a feeling of potential
movement. Indeed the arch would fall over sideways were it not for the cables
which mutually brace the deck and the arch into a single whole. The leaning arch
gives a sense of strength but also of fragility. It is this conflict that makes the
bridge unusual and interesting.
Questions to ask yourself might be:
 Does the bridge give you a sense of visual movement? (Of course we
must immediately distinguish this artistic concept from actual physical
movements due to wobbles and vibrations.)
 Is the visual movement engaging?
 Do you find your self imagining where the movement is leading?
Criterion Number 4
The bridge has a clear form that makes sense to you.
Comment
The fourth criterion is about clarity of flow of line, shape, texture and contrast. It
is the very essence of what a bridge is about aesthetically. Is its form pleasing to
the eye?
Simplicity may be sufficient for clarity of flow but it isn’t necessary. Simplicity can
be plainness, lack of inappropriate ornament or pretentiousness, freedom from
intricacy and numerous divisions into bits. But simplicity must be
understandable, however it needn’t be austere. Simplicity is straightforward,
truthful and direct. It implies modesty, innocence and purity with integrity and
unity. Simplicity may be easy, natural and may be primitive.
The opposite of simplicity is clutter. It is distracting and takes our attention away
from the essence of something. So by reducing clutter we can more easily focus
on what is important.
Questions to ask yourself might be:
 Do you find the bridge pleasing to the eye?
 Do you get any sense of its essence i.e. what it is about aesthetically?
 Do you feel that the lines, shapes, shades, textures, contrasts, make clear
sense to you?
 Is there any sense of pretentiousness? Is there no over elaborate
ornament? Is it too austere?
 Is the simplicity of the bridge straightforward, truthful and direct? Is it
modest, innocent and pure with integrity and unity?
 Is the simplicity easy, natural and primitive?
4
The Assessments
Page 1 of 3
Please circle a number below – 1 = totally disagree, 5 = totally agree
Goodwill Bridge, Brisbane, Australia
Totally
disagree
When I first saw this bridge I experienced 1
a powerful emotional reaction.
The bridge is in total harmony with its
1
context
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen
1
movement
The bridge has a clear form that makes
1
sense
Please add any comments
Totally
disagree
When I first saw this bridge I experienced 1
a powerful emotional reaction.
The bridge is in total harmony with its
1
context
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen
1
movement
The bridge has a clear form that makes
1
sense.
Please add any comments
2
3
4
Totally
agree
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
Gateshead Millennium Bridge, UK
2
3
4
Totally
agree
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
5
The Assessments
Page 2 of 3
Please circle a number below – 1 = totally disagree, 5 = totally agree
Puente del Alamillo, Seville, Spain
Totally
disagree
When I first saw this bridge I experienced 1
a powerful emotional reaction.
The bridge is in total harmony with its
1
context
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen
1
movement
The bridge has a clear form that makes
1
sense
Please add any comments
Totally
disagree
When I first saw this bridge I experienced 1
a powerful emotional reaction.
The bridge is in total harmony with its
1
context
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen
1
movement
The bridge has a clear form that makes
1
sense
Please add any comments
2
3
4
Totally
agree
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
Miho Bridge Japan
2
3
4
Totally
agree
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
6
The Assessments
Page 3 of 3
Please circle a number below – 1 = totally disagree, 5 = totally agree
Second Severn Crossing
Totally
disagree
When I first saw this bridge I experienced 1
a powerful emotional reaction.
The bridge is in total harmony with its
1
context
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen
1
movement
The bridge has a clear form that makes
1
sense
Please add any comments
Totally
disagree
When I first saw this bridge I experienced 1
a powerful emotional reaction.
The bridge is in total harmony with its
1
context
The bridge gives me a sense of frozen
1
movement
The bridge has a clear form that makes
1
sense
Please add any comments
2
3
4
Totally
agree
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
Millau Viaduct, France
2
3
4
Totally
agree
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5
2
3
4
5