Bridges are normally considered to be the engineer’s area of expertise rather than the architect’s. But the architecture of infrastructure has a powerful impact on environment. The Millau Viaduct, designed in collaboration with engineers, illustrates how the architect can play an integral role in bridge design. This bridge is located in Southern France; the bridge connects the motorway from Paris to Barcelona crossing the River Tarn, which runs through a wide gap between two plateaus. A reading of the geography suggested two possible approaches: to cross the river, the geological generator of the landscape; or there was the challenge of distance of the 2.5 kilometers from one plateau to the other.
The bridge has the best possible span between cable-stayed columns. It is delicate, transparent, and uses the minimum material, which makes it less costly to construct. Each of its sections spans 350 meters and its columns range in height from 75 meters to 235 meters and is higher than the Eiffel Tower. This is further 90 meters above the road deck. To accommodate the expansion and contraction of the concrete deck, each column splits into two thinner, more flexible columns below the roadway, forming an A-frame above deck level. This structure creates a dramatic figure and crucially it makes the minimum intervention in the landscape.
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