Australia's Bridges: Kurilpa Bridge across the Brisbane River in Queensland (1)

March 2011 (-27.469 deg., 153.018 deg.) Kurilpa Bridge

If the Goodwill Bridge is odd, then the Kurilpa Bridge is odder. The team of Cox Rayner Architects and Ove Arup Engineers must have decided to push the envelope even farther on their next bridge over the Brisbane River.  I think Arup's reputation as a designer of interesting pedestrian bridges is enhanced by this project, but it's not a very efficient structure.

Two years ago The Happy Pontist wrote several articles about 'tensegrity bridges,' based on Buckminster Fuller's idea of a structure that optimizes the use of tension elements. However, the Pontist felt the Kurilpa Bridge was just a variant of the cable-stayed bridge and terribly expensive. Perhaps it is more effective as a symbol of all the tall-masted ships that came to colonize Australia.

We'll take a closer look at the bridge tomorrow.

Australia's Bridges: Kurilpa Bridge across the Brisbane River in Queensland (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.