Living Bridges: The Inhabited Bridge, Past, Present And Future

Murray, Peter and Mary Anne Stevens

ISBN 10: 3791317342 / ISBN 13: 9783791317342

Edité par Prestel / Royal Academy Of Arts, Munich / New York, 1996

A propos de cet article

grey boards, red spine printing. 160 pgs w/ color, bw illustrations. thin, navy pictorial plastic/paper composite jacket. Until 1763 Old London Bridge boasted a famous parade of timber shops and houses on either side of a narrow street. Most of these had survived the Great Fire of London in 1666, but the nineteen piers built to bear the clusters of buildings above restricted the flow of the Thames to such an extent that the water roared through the arches as the tide turned, creating a dangerous weir for the many boats that plied the river. Two hundred years ago entire communities were supported on such habitable bridges throughout Europe. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they were demolished in favour of purely vehicular bridges. Living Bridges, the first book ever to be published on the subject, examines the contributions that inhabited bridges have made to city life from the Middle Ages to the present day, and explores the role they could play in the future. The history and construction of major inhabited bridges across Europe and North America are discussed in detail. In Europe these include Old London Bridge, the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, the Ponte di Rialto, Venice, and the Pont de Notre-Dame in Paris, as well as contemporary projects by Richard Rogers, Alsop and Stormer, SITE, Morphosis, Mario Bellini, Bernard Tschumi and other leading architects. The book is copiously illustrated and contains photographs of some of the specially commissioned large-scale models of twenty of the most notable "living bridges" in history, together with numerous reproductions of period drawings and paintings, as well as photographs of extant bridges.--WorldCat. VG/VG- (light wear to boards & corners; spine ends bumped. speckled foxing to textblock edges. dustjacket has scuffing & scratching; rubbed-closed tear to front; upper edge curled, rubbed w/ slight chips; spine top creased).

N° de réf. du vendeur 196080

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Living Bridges: The Inhabited Bridge, Past, Present And Future
• Éditeur: Prestel / Royal Academy Of Arts, Munich / New York
• Date de parution: 1996
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 3791317342
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9783791317342
• Reliure: Hardcover
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • European Architecture
  • Designs and Styles - European Architecture

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

In 1831 Old London Bridge was demolished following the construction of Sir John Rennie's replacement structure. Begun in 1176, it was the first stone bridge to have been erected across the Thames and until 1763 it had boasted a famous parade of shops and houses on either side of a narrow thoroughfare. Throughout Europe whole communities were supported by such habitable bridges. The last bridge of this type to be built in Britain was Pulteney Bridge constructed in Bath in 1773. This work examines the contribution that habitable bridges have made to city life from the Middle Ages to the present day. The history and construction of major inhabited bridges in Europe, the Middle East and America are discussed in detail. In Europe these include Old London Bridge, the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Venice's Rialto Bridge and the Pont de Notre Dame in Paris. One section of the book is devoted to presenting the seven shortlisted entries in a competition to design a habitable bridge for London, spanning the Thames from Temple Gardens on the North Bank to the area in front of London Weekend Television building in the south. Among the entries is one by Daniel Libeakind, originator of the "boiler house" proposal for the extension to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Four pages are accorded to the winning entry in the competition.