Ian Firth: Bridges should be beautiful
Ian Firth: Podurile ar trebui să fie frumoase
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?
cum ar fi să nu avem niciunul?
a civilization without bridges
of human society,
societății omenești,
across a river or an obstacle.
de traversare a unui râu sau obstacol.
living in poor, rural communities
care trăiesc în comunități rurale sărace
and I take for granted:
le luăm de bune:
access to markets ...
acces la piețe...
like Bridges to Prosperity
ca Bridges to Prosperity
this is in Rwanda.
acesta este în Rwanda.
immediately around the bridge,
din imediata apropiere a podului,
for an awfully long time.
de foarte multă vreme.
because it's a very durable material.
fiindcă este un material foarte durabil.
the development of technology
dezvoltarea tehnologiei
with the materials
cu materialele
is a wonderful example --
este un exemplu minunat —
built using massive stones put together,
din pietre uriașe puse împreună,
these suspension bridges,
to build these bridges.
pentru a construi poduri.
they rebuild this every year?
în fiecare an?
is not a durable material.
iarba nu este un material durabil.
since Inca times.
de pe vremea incașilor.
symbols of their location.
and Sydney are well familiar.
sunt foarte cunoscute.
with the name of the place,
sinonim cu numele locului,
that in the war in 1993
until the bridge was reconstructed.
până la reconstrucția podului.
features in our landscape --
în peisajul nostru —
sometimes there's small ones --
to make our bridges beautiful.
să facem podurile frumoase.
in the South of France.
din sudul Franței.
and British architect Lord Foster
și arhitectul britanic Lord Foster
synergy of architecture and engineering.
între arhitectură și inginerie.
in the mountains in Switzerland --
al lui Robert Mailart în munții elvețieni,
and rather delicate bridge
al lui Laurent Ney
and beautiful designs
spectaculoase și frumoase
in three convenient categories,
în trei categorii,
of the structural system
as their principal support.
is the way a beam will behave --
este modul în care se modelază o grindă —
way of operating for an arch.
de a lucra cu un arc.
you need to go lightweight,
e nevoie de ceva ușor,
for variety is enormous.
este enormă.
for innovation and ingenuity
pentru inovare și ingenuitate
around these types.
în jurul acestor modele.
happens relatively slowly in my world,
se întâmplă relativ încet în lumea mea,
that happen in mobile phone technology
din tehnologia telefoanelor mobile,
technologies and so on.
și așa mai departe.
can be summarized in one word:
într-un singur cuvânt:
gestionăm riscul.
that loads will be excessive on one side
că încărcarea va fi excesivă pe o parte
too low on the other side.
prea scăzută pe cealaltă parte.
are full of uncertainty usually,
sunt de regulă pline de incertitudine,
for safety between the two, of course.
între cele două, desigur.
and get their sums right
și să obțină datele corecte
when things like this happen.
când se întâmplă astfel de lucruri.
for these tragedies,
se întâmplă așa încet.
happens quite slowly.
on their projects, obviously.
cu proiectele lor, evident.
asta face parte din ADN-ul meu.
if I wasn't wanting to innovate,
dacă nu aș dori să inovez,
of knowledge and strength
dintr-o poziție de cunoaștere și forță
since the beginning of time --
de la începutul timpului -
this film before --
poate au văzut acest film —
Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse
a podului Tacoma Narrows
ca Galloping Gertie (Gertie Călăreața)
as "Galloping Gertie"
for quite a long time,
called Leon Moisseiff,
just that little bit too far
a forțat limitele un pic prea mult
suspension bridge development
a oprit dezvoltarea podurilor suspendate
about doing another suspension bridge.
să facă un alt pod suspendat.
to what had happened.
față de ceea ce s-a întâmplat.
la jumătatea anilor '60,
a technological step change.
streamlined cross section
very torsionally stiff --
care îl face foarte rigid,
at Tacoma would not happen here.
la Tacoma nu se va întâmpla aici.
important for long spans,
pentru deschideri mari,
to want us to build longer spans.
să construim cu deschideri mai mari.
which is a bit longer,
care este un pic mai lung,
the Messina Bridge in Italy,
podul Messina din Italia,
with construction one day,
într-o bună zi,
to Messina in a moment.
which uses that tension principle
care utilizează principiul tensiunii
a whole load of these right now.
multe astfel de poduri.
in Vladivostok, Russia --
din Vladivostok, Rusia -
about long-span and lightweight.
despre lungime și greutate.
as an example.
Messina Bridge.
the capacity of the main cables --
capacitatea cablurilor principale -
of that capacity
is there to support:
steel wire available to us,
cablu de oțel super puternic,
around about five or six kilometers
cam la cinci sau șase kilometri
carbon fiber in those cables,
cabluri din fibră de carbon,
necessarily the way to go everywhere.
neapărat adecvate oricăror circumstanțe.
of other challenges associated with them,
a wide estuary or a sea crossing.
were somewhere like Gibraltar,
ar fi ca traversarea Gibraltarului
multiple superlong spans
multiple deschideri super-lungi
something spectacular, wouldn't it?
nu-i așa?
that one finished in my lifetime,
terminat în timpul vieții mele,
for some of you guys.
pentru câțiva dintre voi.
which I think is really exciting.
ce cred că e captivant.
across very deep water in Norway,
peste o apă foarte adâncă din Norvegia,
are prohibitively expensive.
este prohibitiv de scumpă.
multispan suspension bridge.
multi-deschidere.
but nothing like this.
dar niciunul ca acesta.
and held down --
și ținute jos,
against those buoyancy forces,
acestor forțe de plutire,
have to be tied together,
trebuie să fie legate împreună,
would just wobble around
s-ar clătina permanent
about the places around the world
la locuri din jurul lumii
to the possibility of a bridge
la posibilitatea unui pod
by the Norwegian Roads Administration,
de Administrația Drumurilor din Norvegia,
să permită dezvoltarea -
enable development --
like Rudy Ricciotti here,
performance fiber-reinforced concrete.
cu fibre de înaltă performanță.
and it's really durable,
și durabil,
sculptural quality.
calitate structurală fantastică.
of other new technologies and things
tot felul de tehnologii și lucruri noi
and AI and all of that,
inteligență artificială,
which I alluded to earlier on.
la care făceam aluzie mai devreme.
they need to be elegant;
că trebuie să fie elegante;
for an awfully long time.
pentru enorm de multă vreme.
whether it overran a few months.
de a fost terminat mai târziu.
does exactly the opposite.
fac exact opusul.
mediocre, ugly environments --
medii urâte și mediocre -
numb to that stuff --
a large-scale vandalism,
through a design competition.
to those people who procure our bridges
cu oamenii care achiziționează podurile
which is often the key.
is one way to get good design,
de a obține proiecte bune,
of procurement going on
against good design.
adus proiectelor bune.
a bit slowly sometimes in my world.
un pic mai greu în lumea mea.
about what we can do with it.
de ceea ce putem face cu ea.
of long-span technology
tehnologiei de mare deschidere
elegant and beautiful stuff
lucruri elegante și frumoase
și construiesc comunități.
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