New Atlas

Science Audio available

Sensors transform bridge into living laboratory

Paul Ridden June 7, 2019

The Memorial Bridge doesn't just allow folks to cross over the Piscataqua River, it also serves as a living laboratory. Now home to a host of sensors, it provides data on the day-to-day life and health of the bridge itself, as well as monitoring the surrounding environment.

Data sensors installed on the Memorial Bridge in New Hampshire provide researchers, engineers and the public ...

Architecture

Winter-ready cabin spans small river in Russia

Adam Williams May 30, 2019

Russia's BIO Architects previously built a cabin on the water and now it has produced one that's above some water. The aptly-named Bridge House is designed to withstand its country's famously harsh winters and spans a small river on a farm.

Bridge House was prefabricated nearby and then delivered to site and assembled

Architecture Audio available

Work begins on world's longest single-mast, asymmetric cable-stayed bridge

Adam Williams March 21, 2019

Construction has begun on a new Zaha Hadid Architects-designed bridge in Taiwan that's billed as the world's longest single-mast, asymmetric cable-stayed bridge. Due to open in 2024, the Danjiang Bridge is a massive project with a considerable budget of NT$12.49 billion (US$405.2 million).

The Danjiang Bridge will span the mouth of the Tamsui River that flows through Taipei

Architecture

Structural Awards honor the most impressive engineering feats of 2018

Michael Irving November 21, 2018

The winners of the Structural Awards 2018 have been announced. This year’s top prize was awarded to the sleek and elegant Tamina Canyon Crossing in Switzerland, while the rest of the honors went to an assortment of outstanding bridges, stadiums, and other buildings.

The Steve Jobs Theater Pavilion in California was given the Award for Structural Artistry

Architecture

World's longest sea crossing bridge opens for business in China

Adam Williams October 23, 2018

Costing 15.73 billion RMB (around US$20 billion) and measuring 55 km (34 miles)-long including connecting roads, the new Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is the world's longest sea crossing bridge. Following nine years of construction, it connects the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong and Macau.

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge measures 55 km (34 miles), including connecting roads

Architecture

Huge "horizontal skyscraper" rises in China

Adam Williams March 5, 2018

China boasts more than its fair share of engineering feats, including the world's second-tallest skyscraper and the highest bridge. We can soon add highest skybridge to the list too, courtesy of Moshe Safdie's Raffles City Chongqing project, which is under construction in southwest China.

Raffles City Chongqing's "horizontal skyscraper" is named the Conservatory and measures 300 m (984 ft)-long

Architecture

3D printed reinforced concrete bridge opens in the Netherlands

Michael Irving October 17, 2017

A new 3D printed bridge has just opened in the Netherlands. Designed and built by engineers from TU/E and construction company BAM Infra, the cyclist bridge was printed in pieces from a concrete mixture, reinforced with steel cable, before being assembled and erected on-site.

A new 3D printed bridge has just opened up in the Netherlands

Architecture

The revolving sail bridge that looks like a dragonfly Transformer

Rich Haridy August 6, 2017

Margot Krasojević’s architectural designs are undeniably experimental, incredibly philosophical and, with engineering technology rapidly evolving, increasingly realizable. Her latest piece is an incredible, mobile bridge commissioned as a prospective crossing for a river in Mongolia.

This floating movable bridge commissioned by the Ordos government in Mongolia

Architecture

World's longest suspension footbridge hangs over Switzerland's deepest cut valley

Nick Lavars August 1, 2017

A new suspension bridge has just opened that might give Indiana Jones himself sweaty palms. The world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge takes visitors through the scenic Bernese Alps, with the mighty Matterhorn mountain in the background to draw nervous eyes away from the valley below.

The Charles Kuonen Suspension Bridge took just 10 weeks to build

Architecture

A bridge too far: London's controversial Garden Bridge cancelled

Adam Williams May 3, 2017

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has effectively pulled the plug on the city's Garden Bridge amid concerns over ballooning costs. Envisioned as a greenery-filled crossing over the Thames, the Thomas Heatherwick-designed project ultimately proved very controversial.

Dead in the water: The controversial Garden Bridge's sums just didn't add up