This beautiful arched bridge in Lake Austin was a private build by Miro Rivera Architects and is used to
connect the client's main house to the smaller guest house on the other side of the water.
The idea was to make the bridge seem as natural as possible within its surroundings and to do this
they made the decking and reed-like hand rails as imperfect as possible.
The result is a bridge that looks extremely fragile but definitely worth the risk.
The original Kintai Bridge was built in 1673 and didn't stand very long until it was damaged
due to flooding. It was then rebuilt and survived for more than 200 years until a typhoon battered it
to death in 1950. The bridge that stands now over the Nishiki Rivers the 3rd build and looks
magnificent, it's 5 wooden arches displaying an incredible amount of detail and craftsmanship.
Interesting fact: no nails or bolts have been used to build the arches, only clamps and wires.
The JK Bridge in Brasilia is a lesson in elegant bridge design.
The 3 huge arches diagonally hopping over the deck of the bridge give the structure an
amazing visual fluidity and make the whole 1.2km bridge look effortlessly cool.
Since being built the bridge has won awards for its design but is still massively
under appreciated on a wider scale.
Technically, this is a bridge: it's a structure which spans a gorge. The only difference is, the bridge can't be used by humans due to the fact that its purpose is to support 2 pipelines - 1 gas, 1 oil -across the extremely high gap in Papua New Guinea .
So high in fact that if this were to be officially recognized as a bridge it would rocket to the top of the 'world's highest bridge-span' list at an impressive height of 1290ft.
By comparison, the current highest bridge span belongs to the Royal Gorge Bridge
in Colorado , hanging a mere 1053ft above ground level, while Manhattan 's Chrysler Building measures 1047ft.
Thomas heatherwick' s award-winning rolling bridge is an ingenious addition to the grand union canal system in London and is unique in its design. Unlike regular movable canal bridges, the rolling bridge curls up on itself to form an octagon by way of hydraulics.
It's an amazing sight and a reminder that a fresh perspective can produce great,
innovative results, even when dealing with a structure as common as a bridge.
