Ian Firth: Bridges should be beautiful
איאן פירת': גשרים צריכים להיות יפים
Ian Firth designs bridges all around the world; some are very long and cross over wide rivers or sea channels, and some are really short and in the middle of towns and cities, but "all of them are unique and special in their own way." Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
what it would be like not to have any?
אם לא היו גשרים כלל?
a civilization without bridges
of human society,
across a river or an obstacle.
לחצות נהר או מכשול.
living in poor, rural communities
החיים בקהילות כפריות ועניות
and I take for granted:
access to markets ...
like Bridges to Prosperity
כמו "גשרים לשגשוג"
this is in Rwanda.
זה ברואנדה.
immediately around the bridge,
for an awfully long time.
כבר זמן ארוך נורא.
because it's a very durable material.
the development of technology
with the materials
is a wonderful example --
built using massive stones put together,
שנבנתה בשילוב סלעים ענקיים,
these suspension bridges,
to build these bridges.
they rebuild this every year?
is not a durable material.
since Inca times.
symbols of their location.
and Sydney are well familiar.
ו"סידני" הם מוכרים מאוד.
with the name of the place,
עם השם של הארמון,
that in the war in 1993
until the bridge was reconstructed.
עד שהגשר נבנה מחדש.
features in our landscape --
sometimes there's small ones --
to make our bridges beautiful.
להפוך את הגשרים שלנו ליפים.
in the South of France.
and British architect Lord Foster
והאדריכל הבריטי לורד פוסטר
synergy of architecture and engineering.
in the mountains in Switzerland --
בהרים של שוויץ --
and rather delicate bridge
and beautiful designs
in three convenient categories,
בשלוש קטגוריות נוחות,
of the structural system
as their principal support.
is the way a beam will behave --
לגרום לקורה להתנהג יפה --
way of operating for an arch.
you need to go lightweight,
צריך להיות קלילים יותר,
for variety is enormous.
for innovation and ingenuity
around these types.
happens relatively slowly in my world,
יחסית לאט בעולם שלי,
that happen in mobile phone technology
בטכנולוגיית הטלפונים הסלולריים
technologies and so on.
וכן הלאה.
can be summarized in one word:
that loads will be excessive on one side
שמטענים יהיו עודפים בצד אחד
too low on the other side.
are full of uncertainty usually,
for safety between the two, of course.
לבטיחות בין השניים, כמובן.
and get their sums right
ולחשב את הסכומים שלהם נכון
when things like this happen.
כשדברים כאלה קורים.
for these tragedies,
happens quite slowly.
on their projects, obviously.
בפרוייקטים שלהם, כמובן.
if I wasn't wanting to innovate,
אם לא הייתי רוצה לחדש,
of knowledge and strength
מעמדה של ידע וחוזק
since the beginning of time --
מאז תחילת הזמן --
this film before --
Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse
של גשר מיצר טקומה
as "Galloping Gertie"
for quite a long time,
called Leon Moisseiff,
just that little bit too far
ממש טיפה יותר רחוק
suspension bridge development
about doing another suspension bridge.
לעשות גשר תלוי אחר.
to what had happened.
a technological step change.
streamlined cross section
very torsionally stiff --
לקשיחה סיבובית--
at Tacoma would not happen here.
important for long spans,
to want us to build longer spans.
שנבנה מפתחים ארוכים יותר
which is a bit longer,
בטורקיה שהוא טיפה יותר ארוך,
the Messina Bridge in Italy,
with construction one day,
to Messina in a moment.
which uses that tension principle
המשתמש בעיקרון המתח
a whole load of these right now.
in Vladivostok, Russia --
גשר רוסקי בולאדיווסטוק, רוסיה --
about long-span and lightweight.
על מפתח ארוך ומשקל קל.
as an example.
the capacity of the main cables --
את הקיבולת של הכבלים הראשיים --
of that capacity
is there to support:
steel wire available to us,
חזק מאוד הזמין לנו,
around about five or six kilometers
סביב בערך 5 או 6 קילומטרים
carbon fiber in those cables,
בסיבי פחמן בכבלים אלו,
necessarily the way to go everywhere.
הדרך להגיע לכל מקום.
of other challenges associated with them,
המתקשרים אליהם,
a wide estuary or a sea crossing.
were somewhere like Gibraltar,
הייתה במקום כמו ג'יבלארטר,
multiple superlong spans
מפתחים ארוכים ומרובים
something spectacular, wouldn't it?
that one finished in my lifetime,
גמור בימי חיי,
for some of you guys.
which I think is really exciting.
שאני חושב שהוא מאוד מרגש.
across very deep water in Norway,
לאורך מים מאוד עמוקים בנורבגיה,
are prohibitively expensive.
הם יקרים מעבר ליכולתנו.
multispan suspension bridge.
but nothing like this.
and held down --
against those buoyancy forces,
have to be tied together,
would just wobble around
about the places around the world
to the possibility of a bridge
by the Norwegian Roads Administration,
enable development --
like Rudy Ricciotti here,
performance fiber-reinforced concrete.
של בטון המחוזק על ידי סיבים.
and it's really durable,
sculptural quality.
of other new technologies and things
טכנולוגיות ודברים חדשים אחרים
ואינטליגנציה מלאכותית וכל אלו,
and AI and all of that,
which I alluded to earlier on.
למשהו שהתייחסתי אליו לפני כן.
they need to be elegant;
שהם צריכים להיות אלגנטיים;
for an awfully long time.
whether it overran a few months.
כמה חודשים יותר לבנות אותם.
does exactly the opposite.
mediocre, ugly environments --
סביבות בינוניות ומכוערות --
numb to that stuff --
לאדישים לנושא זה --
a large-scale vandalism,
through a design competition.
to those people who procure our bridges
עם אלו שרוכשים את הגשרים שלנו.
which is often the key.
is one way to get good design,
of procurement going on
against good design.
a bit slowly sometimes in my world.
מעט לאט לפעמים בעולמי.
about what we can do with it.
ממה שאנחנו יכולים לעשות עם זה.
of long-span technology
עם טכנולוגיית מפתחים ארוכים
elegant and beautiful stuff
דברים אלגנטיים ויפים
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ian Firth - Engineer, bridge designerIan Firth designs bridges all around the world; some are very long and cross over wide rivers or sea channels, and some are really short and in the middle of towns and cities, but "all of them are unique and special in their own way."
Why you should listen
As Ian Firth writes: "I have been fortunate enough to work on some of the world's most amazing bridges, and I lead fantastic teams of engineers involved in the design, construction and management of bridges all over the world. Since 1990, when I became a Partner in Flint & Neill, the UK engineering consultants who I joined as a young graduate in 1979, I have helped to grow the firm into one of the world's leading bridge design consultancies. Flint & Neill joined the Danish COWI Group in 2008 and rebranded as COWI (UK) in January 2017.
"I love the fact that my work has included some of the very biggest bridges as well as some much smaller and more intimate ones. The big ones include the huge 3.3 km-long single-span suspension bridge over the Messina Strait in Italy and the 1 km span Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong. The smaller ones include Copenhagen's new Inner Harbour Bridge, the Third Way Bridge in Taunton and the Swansea Sail Bridge in Wales. In fact, one of my favorites is the smallest: the little Bridge of Aspiration in London's Covent Garden, which is only 9 meters long! Working alongside bridge architects, I always try to weave elegance and beauty into my designs alongside the essential safety, economy and other factors, so that my bridges are popular as well as efficient and durable. Altogether, I reckon I have designed well over 100 bridges, but sadly not all of them have been built!"
Ian Firth | Speaker | TED.com