Ian Firth: Bridges should be beautiful
伊恩 · 夫斯: 谁说桥梁不能更美观
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?
a civilization without bridges
of human society,
across a river or an obstacle.
跨过河流或者障碍,
living in poor, rural communities
and I take for granted:
access to markets ...
like Bridges to Prosperity
那样伟大的组织
this is in Rwanda.
这是卢旺达。
immediately around the bridge,
for an awfully long time.
because it's a very durable material.
因为石头是一种非常耐用的材料。
the development of technology
with the materials
is a wonderful example --
就是一个完美的例子——
古罗马引水桥——
built using massive stones put together,
将巨大的重石堆在一起——
these suspension bridges,
to build these bridges.
they rebuild this every year?
is not a durable material.
since Inca times.
就没有改变过。
symbols of their location.
and Sydney are well familiar.
with the name of the place,
that in the war in 1993
直至这座桥被重建。
until the bridge was reconstructed.
features in our landscape --
景观中的一大特色——
sometimes there's small ones --
to make our bridges beautiful.
让桥梁更加美观。
法国南部的米约高架桥。
in the South of France.
and British architect Lord Foster
英国建筑师Lord Foster
synergy of architecture and engineering.
in the mountains in Switzerland --
Robert Maillart的Salginatobel桥——
and rather delicate bridge
廷塔杰尔城堡所打造的
and beautiful designs
in three convenient categories,
of the structural system
as their principal support.
is the way a beam will behave --
way of operating for an arch.
you need to go lightweight,
就需要自重轻,
for variety is enormous.
for innovation and ingenuity
有非凡的眼界,
建造各种各样的桥梁。
around these types.
happens relatively slowly in my world,
电脑,以及其他数字技术上的
我的(建筑)世界里
that happen in mobile phone technology
technologies and so on.
can be summarized in one word:
需要管理风险。
that loads will be excessive on one side
too low on the other side.
等情况发生的概率。
are full of uncertainty usually,
for safety between the two, of course.
and get their sums right
并得出正确的结果,
让人警醒的原因。
when things like this happen.
for these tragedies,
这些悲剧发生的原因。
happens quite slowly.
on their projects, obviously.
发生这样的悲剧,这是显而易见的。
if I wasn't wanting to innovate,
不是一个好的工程师,
of knowledge and strength
从一开始就是这样——
since the beginning of time --
this film before --
Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse
as "Galloping Gertie"
for quite a long time,
called Leon Moisseiff,
Leon Moisseiff的人设计的,
他把极限推得太过了,
just that little bit too far
suspension bridge development
about doing another suspension bridge.
想去建造另一座悬索桥了。
想去建造这样的桥时,
过度安全反应。
to what had happened.
60年代中期又出现时,
a technological step change.
streamlined cross section
very torsionally stiff --
at Tacoma would not happen here.
扭曲运动就不会在这儿发生。
important for long spans,
to want us to build longer spans.
建造更长跨度的桥。
which is a bit longer,
the Messina Bridge in Italy,
with construction one day,
to Messina in a moment.
which uses that tension principle
张力原理的长跨桥
a whole load of these right now.
建造大量的这类建筑。
in Vladivostok, Russia --
海参葳的Russky桥。
和自重轻的问题。
about long-span and lightweight.
as an example.
主缆的承载力——
the capacity of the main cables --
of that capacity
is there to support:
steel wire available to us,
around about five or six kilometers
大约5到6公里的跨度,
carbon fiber in those cables,
缆绳中使用碳纤维,
necessarily the way to go everywhere.
并不一定适合于任何地方。
of other challenges associated with them,
a wide estuary or a sea crossing.
were somewhere like Gibraltar,
是像直布罗陀这样的地方,
multiple superlong spans
something spectacular, wouldn't it?
that one finished in my lifetime,
看到这个完成了,
倒是值得期待一下。
for some of you guys.
which I think is really exciting.
我觉得非常让人激动的事情。
非常深的水域的悬索桥,
across very deep water in Norway,
are prohibitively expensive.
高得让人望而却步。
multispan suspension bridge.
but nothing like this.
但没造过这样的东西。
and held down --
海床上并被压住——
against those buoyancy forces,
have to be tied together,
would just wobble around
about the places around the world
或其他任何通行工具的
to the possibility of a bridge
by the Norwegian Roads Administration,
推动哪些地方的发展——
enable development --
like Rudy Ricciotti here,
这样的人手中,
performance fiber-reinforced concrete.
超高性能纤维增强混凝土。
and it's really durable,
雕塑般的效果。
sculptural quality.
of other new technologies and things
各种各样的正在发展的
and AI and all of that,
我之前提到的一些东西。
which I alluded to earlier on.
功能性的,是的。
they need to be elegant;
考虑到了经久耐用。
for an awfully long time.
whether it overran a few months.
它们已经寿终正寝。
does exactly the opposite.
mediocre, ugly environments --
平庸丑陋的环境——
numb to that stuff --
这些东西已经麻木了——
a large-scale vandalism,
through a design competition.
to those people who procure our bridges
和那些采购我们的桥梁,
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.
有时候发展比较缓慢。
about what we can do with it.
所能做的事感到无比兴奋。
of long-span technology
elegant and beautiful stuff
优雅和美丽的事物,
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