Bridge Aesthetics: Beyond Haunched Girders and Form Liners

Bridge Aesthetics: Beyond Haunched Girders and Form Liners

May 4th, 2021 
Virtual Meeting – Zoom platform
Times 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Speaker:
Fred Gottemoeller
Engineer and Architect, Bridgescape, LLC

What are the roots of our aesthetic enjoyment of bridges?  This presentation answers that question by first looking at what are the roots of our aesthetic enjoyment of other art forms, like painting and sculpture.  From that base we will examine what makes the enjoyment of bridges different.  Those differences explain the appeal of haunched girders, and the Swiss-Army knife appeal of formliners.  The presentation will also explore means of improving the aesthetic appeal of bridge piers and towers and will conclude with an application of these ideas to the impending project to widen the American Legion Bridge over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C.

Fred Gottemoeller is considered America’s most distinguished expert on bridge aesthetics.  Among his more than 30 bridges are crossings of the Colorado, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Potomac, and Niagara Rivers and a crossing of a World Heritage waterway, Canadas’s Rideau Canal, and his work on the Burns Bridge in Worcester, MA.  Bridgescape, his book on bridge aesthetics, is a familiar reference for bridge designers.  Now retired, Fred is continuing to share his ideas and knowledge through articles in bridge publications and by presentations like this.

Registration Deadline: Friday, April 30, 2021
$20 Members, $25 Non-Members
$15 Public Sector Members, $20 Public Sector Non-Members)
$5 Senior Members (65+), $5 Students)

Information/Registration: 
Register to attend this meeting and pay by credit card online above. To register online for an event at the BSCES member rate you must login using your BSCES assigned username and password. If you do not know your BSCES member login information call 617/227-5551. You can also register for this event by mail or email. To do so, download and complete a BSCES Event Registration Form and follow the submission instructions. Cancellations received after April 30, 2021 and no-shows will be billed.