It's like a jigsaw...

HOW DO THINGS REALLY FIT TOGETHER?

As our location is a bridge and not a traditional building structure, the core elements of it must be a lot more sustainable and impervious.  The bridge itself is constructed with more of a technical aspect; it is joined with different materials that combine to form the basic skeleton of it. As a skeleton has many layers that form the body; the bridge too needs to be composed of these main aspects. The load-bearing, insulation and protective layers could be represented by bone, muscle and skin. This can be translated to our structure as being what holds and keeps it afloat. 

Foundations:

• Load-bearing layer = the tension piles which support the pontoons; these are the basis of the bridge
• Insulation = the pontoons themselves, as they keep the piles from damage
• Protective = the hand-rails that protect the pedestrians, and also the ridged texture of the walkway that creates a no-slip surface. 

In this way we can easily compare the bridge to that of a normal building. Like a house, it begins from the bottom supports, the foundations, and is built upwards using walls. Which in our case are the hand-rails of the bridge. However unlike buildings that have a clearly defined interior and exterior, our bridge has no perceptible distinctions between these two areas. It creates a metaphorical "bridge" between these two spatial fields. 

Does form follow function?

The bridge is located in quite an awkward place. There is another much larger bridge up the river to the right and to the left, the river is filled with mostly permanent boats. To get the bridge into place ,two different modes of transport were utilised as it was pre-fabricated. It was constructed in two halves and then moved to the Royal Albert Dock by road; from there the two sections were floated into place by a tug-boat. This seemingly complicated method of construction allows for the fact that it needed to be able to open hydraulically in the middle of the bridge. Otherwise if it was constructed on-site, half of the structure would be static in the air and unable to move.


Climate and Culture:


Since it is outside the bridge is subject to the environmental conditions of the area. This could mean wind, rain, storms and rising water-levels etc. Therefore it is made of heavyweight materials that can withstand these climatic changes and conditions. From personal experience we know that when in strong wind (combined with other forces being applied on the bridge) it rocks and bounces more so than usual. 

Since this in not a building that could have multiple functions, the bridge was designed with a specific purpose in mind. In particular, it is a footbridge which allows pedestrians to move between two very different worlds. A passage of communication and intertwining lifestyles. On the one hand, on Canary Wharf, you can see the buildings of one Canada Square, which is the heart of the  'banking' district, yet barely 80 metres across the river you have the West India Quay. This a very poor area, that nevertheless has retained its strong identity and connections to the docks of old London. It is a clash of two very different cultures.  

The outcome of this, is that these two distinct locations are slowly going to merge into one, all due to the fact that this bridge has allowed movement between them.

Movement:

                                

As the bridge reacts to the movement of the pedestrians crossing it, minor vibrations are created. The magnitude of these vibrations is determined by the volume of traffic crossing the bridge, i.e. in rush hours the bridge is busier and therefore the bridge is also "bouncier". This leads to minute movements which cannot be felt of detected unless you closely observe the small wheels on either end. Over time these very small movements have led to a disintegration of the rubber surface on the wheels.