The Leonardo Bridge Project
LEONARDO PROJECT
Ås, Norway
Design: Pressed bow/arch
Completion date: 2001
Length: 400 feet
Cost: $2 million
Challenge: The weight of history. Leonardo da Vinci first designed a bridge to cross the Bosporus strait at Istanbul in 1502, but the sultan to whom he presented the project didn't believe that the bifurcated, tapered stone arch span could be built.
Solution: Vebjørn Sand, a Norwegian artist, came across the bare-bones design at an exhibition of da Vinci's engineering work and persuaded Norwegian transportation officials to give it a shot. But stone is out; 500 years later, glu-lam - glue-laminated wood - brings the concept to life.
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- Original Wired.com article
- Leonardo Bridge Project
Hello from Kerrville, Texas. I am a musician (organist) and artist (stained glass) and am over awed by the Leonard Bridge Project. It has inspired me to write a drama with music about cultural bridges. I was just about to give up being inspired by anything until I read the article in the Wall Street Journal. Tim Wilborn