tallbridgeguy

From the Calgary Herald,

Calgary-based Graham Infrastructure has been renegotiating the bridge’s design intricacies with the city since delivering a bid that amounts to $20.5 million for a construction project estimated to cost $18 million, according to data the city provided.

Who would have predicted the bridge would go over budget?

The Calgary Municipal land company is still sitting on their shortlist. I bet this has them thinking about cost overruns on the second bridge.

I thought I would practice making videos again….now I suck and I have a voice only my mother would love but any feedback would be appreciated.

From sketchup to some kind of orangey thing. It may not look like much but it takes about 2 hours to get this level of detail with my rendering engine.The dragon was found on the 3D sketchup warehouse.

A proposal for a new pedestrian bridge by Suleiman Alhadidi, on architechnophilia blog. I believe the circles are windows to look down on the roadway? I like that idea but I think it would be difficult to use in a more typical pedestrian bridge.

Since I am trying to learn how to make photo realistic images I look at concept images a little more closely. The image below shows an interesting bridge but the viewpoint is not real. (Unless there is a tower nearby that overlooks the bridge, this view would never be seen.) So how will this bridge look from below? The columns are unprotected and you don’t know how it looks to cars driving under the bridge.

And I think this qualifies as a bridge…and its in Aarhus, where I happened to visit when I went to Denmark. I doubt people will use this as shown. Slippery red? Kinda doubt it but it looks cool from above.

By 3XN. Details on Bustler website.

One more, a museum bridge in Thailand. Again from the Bustler website. (Really cool but how does it stand up?)

I have this 103′ long pier cap to design and I don’t like the look of 6 round columns…

So I went to Mark Yashinsky’s “Bridge Photo of the Day” site to find some inspiration. He has a lot of great photos and even a post about the Union Pacific Railroad constructing a 1440 foot long bridge in eleven days!

Unbelievable, check it out here.

Obviously, the Dilbert cartoon posted yesterday refers to the second world war generation and their great struggle.
(It was Veterans Day yesterday here in the states, so thanks to everyone in uniform, for past, present and future service! (thanks Dad!))

But lets take the cartoon and relate it to bridge design. (I know its a stretch)

When was the greatest generation for bridge design? Was it the 1920-30s with bridges like the George Washington bridge or the Golden gate?

Was it after the war and the building of the interstate system? Is it now with the advancement of new materials and designs?

I have the feeling that I missed out on the best time to be a bridge designer. ..so what do you think, when was the “Golden age of bridge design”?

Sorry I have been distracted lately, working on my photo realistic rendering skills. I’m not very good yet but the practice (I think) will come in handy when I want to present bridge concepts in the future.

The goal is  to match professional render experts, who present a challenge on the sketchucation.com website and then try to match their work. It is extremely frustrating and the renders can take hours but it is fun to learn new skills.

So here are a couple my cheesy attempts..obviously not bridge related.

It looks like I should give up on my standup career…..oh well, I wonder if there is an engineer on the comedy circuit? (I kinda doubt it.) Well back to some accelerated bridge news.

MassDOT’s Highway Division has a blog! I know you are saying..soooo…but it is a fairly bold step for a DOT. It is definitely geared toward self promotion but most DOTs are scared to death about saying the wrong thing in public.

The blog has a few good stories about their ABC program and I think it is a good idea to engage the public.

I am going to the Steel World Bridge Symposium next week with my 88 slide powerpoint. I get 25 minutes to give the talk and that amount of slides may be toooo many.

Oh well, 87 of the slides are just images, so if you want to look at pretty construction photos, right before lunch, come on over!

It seems that controversy is often required to get any feedback on a blog. So in a purely scientific study I will attempt to garner more than one comment.

• In a nod to Monty Python, I think all wrong thinking people are right.
• I doubt the Happy Pontist is always happy.
• Engineers are often taller than architects.
• My Dad can beat up your dad.
• If black was outlawed at work, there would be no architects. (ha!)
• Utility belts look good on engineers.
• “Yes we can” would be a good name for a canning website (mmm jam)
• Humor is not my forte (pronounced “for-ˈtā” for all your non-Canadians)
  

Now I just have to sit back and wait for all the comments…..enjoy a sketch on architects while we wait. It might be a long one…

I was looking through some of the old TED talks and found this one by Sir Ken Robinson. Essentially he gives a funny, informative talk about how he feels schools kill creativity. I think the way engineering is taught also kills creativity…

I think it is a good watch for a Sunday.