" In the Italy of the Second World War the issue of the bridge assumes distinct paths, each pursuing well defined different objectives. The professional acclaim of Italian Engineering involved the most important engineers of the time who were mainly interested in large infrastructure projects. On the other hand certain architects involved themselves in the development of design of footbridges. This different line of research which is of no less importance than that of large infrastructure projects, is what we are going to talk about. This talk will thus explore certain Italian architects and their works; it will demonstrate an alternative view of the footbridge, as a tool, which is at same time syntactic and paratactic, creates a new fluid reality, blending the different characteristics of the areas needed to be spanned. . Over the last 60 years, with a booming economy, shows a phase of innovation and structural experimentation in a cultural context characterized by a profound technological backwardness compared to other European countries. Given this background, the principal aim of Italian structural engineers concentrated on the reconstruction of 2600 bridges destroyed during the war. The greatest innovation in structural engineering of the bridge was aimed at research and testing of prestressed concrete, which started in the pre-war years and continued by Gustavo Colonnetti, even during his exile in Switzerland. In the mid-50s the construction of highways was an occasion for the construction of new reinforced concrete arch bridges but that also offered the opportunity to test the technique of prestressed concrete. . It’s possible to regard the prestressed concrete as a reinterpretation of reinforced masonry, respect to which the theme of its light weight properties is wanted in the formal study of the molded surfaces. This aspect appears in the Olympic Overpass in Rome, designed by Morandi, where the resistant elements of the bridge, struts, beams, tie rods, show both the nature of mechanical object that the character of a molded shape, almost giving it the appearance of having been hand-crafted, cast in situ as in a traditional masonry construction. . On the other hand the experimental technique of prestressed concrete has used by Zorzi in an exemplary way in the bridge Pinzano, in formal terms through a language that defines the bridge in its essential elements and through the transformation of these elements into design components. . Looking at Musmeci, in Basento bridge and in one of the last bridges built over the Tiber, the structural innovation was expressed in formal experiments generated by an original mathematical procedure determined by the "minimal area" which resulted in the plastic surfaces being used to great effect and also led to a reduction in the use of construction materials. . Other experiences in Italy have explored the theme of the bridge as a problematic place, able to determine new horizons for, and able to overcome the specific domain of the 'infrastructure', trying to transfer this theme into the domain of architecture with respect to several aspects, functional, dimensional and temporal. . The pedestrian bridge, leaving its infrastructural nature changes to a different technical entities with a presence in space that goes beyond his role. The footbridge is therefore a powerful expression which defines the space becoming a generator of new artificial topographies and its effect of the space defines new relationships depending on the distance of the viewer from the structure. In this way the Italian examples of footbridges designed and built in the second half of the twentieth century, make a particularly interesting case study, a scenario unicuum in Europe. We will explore aspects that cannot be limited solely to construction issue or the general aesthetic of the footbridge but reflect and represent a deepening relationship between the city\/landscape and the bridge. The theme of the connection thus becomes the occasion for a reflection of stronger relationships between different areas of the city or areas of land and the passing of a division that is not only physical but morphological, historical and social. An object situated between things and not on things, between one side and the other, a fragment that binds and mediates, exists for this purposes and not only to declare the artistic value or the technological expertise of the designer who conceived the project. This theme has shown in significant examples which we are talking about. . In 1995 Giancarlo De Carlo was employed to study seven new gates for the city of San Marino republic and one of them was a footbridge. The architect reinterprets the towers of Mount Titano in a steel tower structure which forms the supports to hold the bridge and give the impression of being a drawbridge built on the street below. A spiral staircase snakes its way around the outside of the tower, a clear echo of the past. . As a result of winning a competition (which also included the construction of two additional pedestrian bridges, never built) in the Jubilee Year Two Thousand, Francesco Cellini built the footbridge in via degli Annibaldi in Rome. The initial proposals did not include the area next to the Colosseum as a possible site for the bridge, but were expected at an early stage to be situated in different locations. Cellini therefore had to adapt his original proposal and it’s interesting to trace his final design to understand how his choices were guided by the features of the site. The symmetrical disposition to the initial project is replaced by an asymmetrical one, as we can see from the two different systems which connect the bridge with the streets. In the initial design the arc profile was enhanced by the terminal straight sections, but in final design there is only a slight curvature, indicating the desire to avoid confrontation with the arches of the nearby Colosseum. . At the same time, in Rome, the reorganization of the archaeological areas in the Trajan's Market offered the opportunity to build new pedestrian walkways. The design of the first intervention, by Olevano Franciosini and D'Aquino, provides walkways in wood and iron: the parapets consist of a repetition of horizontal iron profiles while the wooden slabs pavement allow us to see the archaeological remains under bridges. The steel rods and the technical solutions show aims to pursue a technological minimalism which doesn't attempt to alter the perception of the area, given its large historical value. The walkway over the Campo Carleo street, designed by Nemesis studio in the second intervention, is a weathering steel bridge, with slim parapets to obtain the minimum visual impact and not affect the character of the massive monument which is preserved in its material and visual consistency. . In 1964 Aldo Rossi designed the footbridge in the park of the “Triennale di Milano”, a triangular section bridge which was composed of two parts, with tubular frame structure and covered with wire mesh. It was supported by columns and cylinders. The bridge, later removed, reached directly the first floor in the Triennale building. . This way of constructive approach to the issue of the footbridge is shown by the experience of Carlo Scarpa, who also transfers in the dimension of this "object" the complexity of the architectural design. . Scarpa shows how the footbridge is an interval between one side and another, between internal and external, emphasizing diversity and separation of margins through asymmetric configurations and connections where these margins are carefully assessed and resolved. In the "bridge-walkways", the art of joining, typical Scarpa’s approach, which achieves one of its best expression of quality, is the bridge which when completed, recovers the void between the two margins, between the two thresholds, between two limits. . The bridge-walkway that connects the Campiello Querini, along the canal, with the Querini Stampalia Building, reaches its final structural design, through several steps and best represents the exercise of the "curious faculties" of Scarpa. . This faculty, according to the architect, allows us to consider that a dimensional aspect is an important quality of the physical value of things. The bridge-walkway is asymmetric, both for functional reasons, given the different levels of the two areas of support and for conceptual reasons due to the different nature of the two fronts: one open on the Campiello, the other closed to mark the entrance to the building. . The new entrance is opened in an eccentric position on the façade through the transformation of a window. . The bridge is hinged to the Campiello and to the base of the building: the two beds are in Istrian stone, molded to accept the steel structure of the deck, which exhibits a low arch profile, with an asymmetrical configuration due to the different levels of starting and ending. . During the restoration of the castle of Castelvecchio in Verona, part of the fourteenth-century fortress called the rampart La Scala was discovered. The excavation of the site made it necessary to build a footbridge at the southern tip to ensure maintenance access at the south entrance. Scarpa designed an asymmetrical bridge which overcame the difference in between the two opposite sides of the bridge. The architect managed to overcome the problem of height difference with small flights of concrete steps leading to the footbridge. . While still in the design stage Scarpa included another bridge in order to facilitate movement after he had removed the first floor of one part of the castle, he decided to angle the walkway at 45 degrees, instead of the geometry of the building. This choice is due to emphasize the vertical space of the site overlooking the statue of Cangrande della Scala, and not just as a connection between two sides. Two horizontal beams support irregular concrete slabs, which contrast the regular pattern of the floor in the other rooms, as it to suggest a passage in the passage of the uncertainty over the void below. . In Italy cultural heritage and craft traditions that have characterized the construction of the bridges are a common path which have connected two different parts of the technical design of the bridge. The first part which is related to large infrastructure employed the craftsmanship to overcome the backwardness of the construction industry but at the same time being aware of theoretical advances in Italian engineering. In the case of footbridges craftsmanship has allowed the creation of architectures which are unique from an aesthetic angle but also for a constructive one. Italian footbridges confront the complexity of historical morphological and social urban contexts.. "

The finite light, Symbol and constructive nature of footbridge

TOSONE, ALESSANDRA;MORGANTI, RENATO TEOFILO GIUSEPPE;DI DONATO, DANILO
2011-01-01

Abstract

" In the Italy of the Second World War the issue of the bridge assumes distinct paths, each pursuing well defined different objectives. The professional acclaim of Italian Engineering involved the most important engineers of the time who were mainly interested in large infrastructure projects. On the other hand certain architects involved themselves in the development of design of footbridges. This different line of research which is of no less importance than that of large infrastructure projects, is what we are going to talk about. This talk will thus explore certain Italian architects and their works; it will demonstrate an alternative view of the footbridge, as a tool, which is at same time syntactic and paratactic, creates a new fluid reality, blending the different characteristics of the areas needed to be spanned. . Over the last 60 years, with a booming economy, shows a phase of innovation and structural experimentation in a cultural context characterized by a profound technological backwardness compared to other European countries. Given this background, the principal aim of Italian structural engineers concentrated on the reconstruction of 2600 bridges destroyed during the war. The greatest innovation in structural engineering of the bridge was aimed at research and testing of prestressed concrete, which started in the pre-war years and continued by Gustavo Colonnetti, even during his exile in Switzerland. In the mid-50s the construction of highways was an occasion for the construction of new reinforced concrete arch bridges but that also offered the opportunity to test the technique of prestressed concrete. . It’s possible to regard the prestressed concrete as a reinterpretation of reinforced masonry, respect to which the theme of its light weight properties is wanted in the formal study of the molded surfaces. This aspect appears in the Olympic Overpass in Rome, designed by Morandi, where the resistant elements of the bridge, struts, beams, tie rods, show both the nature of mechanical object that the character of a molded shape, almost giving it the appearance of having been hand-crafted, cast in situ as in a traditional masonry construction. . On the other hand the experimental technique of prestressed concrete has used by Zorzi in an exemplary way in the bridge Pinzano, in formal terms through a language that defines the bridge in its essential elements and through the transformation of these elements into design components. . Looking at Musmeci, in Basento bridge and in one of the last bridges built over the Tiber, the structural innovation was expressed in formal experiments generated by an original mathematical procedure determined by the "minimal area" which resulted in the plastic surfaces being used to great effect and also led to a reduction in the use of construction materials. . Other experiences in Italy have explored the theme of the bridge as a problematic place, able to determine new horizons for, and able to overcome the specific domain of the 'infrastructure', trying to transfer this theme into the domain of architecture with respect to several aspects, functional, dimensional and temporal. . The pedestrian bridge, leaving its infrastructural nature changes to a different technical entities with a presence in space that goes beyond his role. The footbridge is therefore a powerful expression which defines the space becoming a generator of new artificial topographies and its effect of the space defines new relationships depending on the distance of the viewer from the structure. In this way the Italian examples of footbridges designed and built in the second half of the twentieth century, make a particularly interesting case study, a scenario unicuum in Europe. We will explore aspects that cannot be limited solely to construction issue or the general aesthetic of the footbridge but reflect and represent a deepening relationship between the city\/landscape and the bridge. The theme of the connection thus becomes the occasion for a reflection of stronger relationships between different areas of the city or areas of land and the passing of a division that is not only physical but morphological, historical and social. An object situated between things and not on things, between one side and the other, a fragment that binds and mediates, exists for this purposes and not only to declare the artistic value or the technological expertise of the designer who conceived the project. This theme has shown in significant examples which we are talking about. . In 1995 Giancarlo De Carlo was employed to study seven new gates for the city of San Marino republic and one of them was a footbridge. The architect reinterprets the towers of Mount Titano in a steel tower structure which forms the supports to hold the bridge and give the impression of being a drawbridge built on the street below. A spiral staircase snakes its way around the outside of the tower, a clear echo of the past. . As a result of winning a competition (which also included the construction of two additional pedestrian bridges, never built) in the Jubilee Year Two Thousand, Francesco Cellini built the footbridge in via degli Annibaldi in Rome. The initial proposals did not include the area next to the Colosseum as a possible site for the bridge, but were expected at an early stage to be situated in different locations. Cellini therefore had to adapt his original proposal and it’s interesting to trace his final design to understand how his choices were guided by the features of the site. The symmetrical disposition to the initial project is replaced by an asymmetrical one, as we can see from the two different systems which connect the bridge with the streets. In the initial design the arc profile was enhanced by the terminal straight sections, but in final design there is only a slight curvature, indicating the desire to avoid confrontation with the arches of the nearby Colosseum. . At the same time, in Rome, the reorganization of the archaeological areas in the Trajan's Market offered the opportunity to build new pedestrian walkways. The design of the first intervention, by Olevano Franciosini and D'Aquino, provides walkways in wood and iron: the parapets consist of a repetition of horizontal iron profiles while the wooden slabs pavement allow us to see the archaeological remains under bridges. The steel rods and the technical solutions show aims to pursue a technological minimalism which doesn't attempt to alter the perception of the area, given its large historical value. The walkway over the Campo Carleo street, designed by Nemesis studio in the second intervention, is a weathering steel bridge, with slim parapets to obtain the minimum visual impact and not affect the character of the massive monument which is preserved in its material and visual consistency. . In 1964 Aldo Rossi designed the footbridge in the park of the “Triennale di Milano”, a triangular section bridge which was composed of two parts, with tubular frame structure and covered with wire mesh. It was supported by columns and cylinders. The bridge, later removed, reached directly the first floor in the Triennale building. . This way of constructive approach to the issue of the footbridge is shown by the experience of Carlo Scarpa, who also transfers in the dimension of this "object" the complexity of the architectural design. . Scarpa shows how the footbridge is an interval between one side and another, between internal and external, emphasizing diversity and separation of margins through asymmetric configurations and connections where these margins are carefully assessed and resolved. In the "bridge-walkways", the art of joining, typical Scarpa’s approach, which achieves one of its best expression of quality, is the bridge which when completed, recovers the void between the two margins, between the two thresholds, between two limits. . The bridge-walkway that connects the Campiello Querini, along the canal, with the Querini Stampalia Building, reaches its final structural design, through several steps and best represents the exercise of the "curious faculties" of Scarpa. . This faculty, according to the architect, allows us to consider that a dimensional aspect is an important quality of the physical value of things. The bridge-walkway is asymmetric, both for functional reasons, given the different levels of the two areas of support and for conceptual reasons due to the different nature of the two fronts: one open on the Campiello, the other closed to mark the entrance to the building. . The new entrance is opened in an eccentric position on the façade through the transformation of a window. . The bridge is hinged to the Campiello and to the base of the building: the two beds are in Istrian stone, molded to accept the steel structure of the deck, which exhibits a low arch profile, with an asymmetrical configuration due to the different levels of starting and ending. . During the restoration of the castle of Castelvecchio in Verona, part of the fourteenth-century fortress called the rampart La Scala was discovered. The excavation of the site made it necessary to build a footbridge at the southern tip to ensure maintenance access at the south entrance. Scarpa designed an asymmetrical bridge which overcame the difference in between the two opposite sides of the bridge. The architect managed to overcome the problem of height difference with small flights of concrete steps leading to the footbridge. . While still in the design stage Scarpa included another bridge in order to facilitate movement after he had removed the first floor of one part of the castle, he decided to angle the walkway at 45 degrees, instead of the geometry of the building. This choice is due to emphasize the vertical space of the site overlooking the statue of Cangrande della Scala, and not just as a connection between two sides. Two horizontal beams support irregular concrete slabs, which contrast the regular pattern of the floor in the other rooms, as it to suggest a passage in the passage of the uncertainty over the void below. . In Italy cultural heritage and craft traditions that have characterized the construction of the bridges are a common path which have connected two different parts of the technical design of the bridge. The first part which is related to large infrastructure employed the craftsmanship to overcome the backwardness of the construction industry but at the same time being aware of theoretical advances in Italian engineering. In the case of footbridges craftsmanship has allowed the creation of architectures which are unique from an aesthetic angle but also for a constructive one. Italian footbridges confront the complexity of historical morphological and social urban contexts.. "
2011
978-83-7125-204-4
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11697/89328
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