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The Alamillo Bridge ( es, Puente del Alamillo) is a structure in
The static concept of the bridge can be traced back to the 1986 sculpture by Calatrava entitled 'Running Torso', in which inclined stacked marble cubes are balanced by a tensioned wire. The Alamillo Bridge consists of a single straight steel-shell tower, infilled with reinforced concrete and inclined backward, counterbalancing a 200 m span with thirteen pairs of cables. Since the weight of the tower is made to be sufficient to counter-balance the deck, back stays are thus not required, effectively substituting the weight of an inclined tower for one set of stay cables. In this way, a new type of cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge was conceived in 1987.
The original intent was to build two symmetrical bridges on either side of the island, but in the end the Alamillo's singular asymmetric design has proved most striking.
The bridge deck consists of an hexagonal steel-box-beam spine to which the stay cables are attached. Side steel wings cantilevered off the hexagonal spine support the traffic decks, three lanes on each side. The top of the hexagonal spine, elevated 1.6 meters (5 feet) above the road level, serves as an elevated footway and cycle lane in between the traffic lanes.
This bridge represented the soaring aspirations of the city of Seville in preparation for Expo '92, and is visible from the top of La Giralda, the former minaret which is the sentimental roof of the city, linking Seville's past and present. Similar to the Brooklyn Bridge, there is an elevated walkway for pedestrians. In addition to the elevated walkway, the Alamillo Bridge features a lookout at the top of the inclined tower, accessible by a stairway enclosed within the tower.
The Alamillo Bridge is the first cable-stayed bridge that is balanced solely through the weight of the massive tower, not requiring any type of back stays or anchorage. There are 54 steel piles under the bridge, acting passively under the tower. Calatrava's
While the Alamillo Bridge is dramatic and widely acclaimed aesthetically, an analysis of its structural engineering show that it has an inefficient dynamic structural form because of the lack of backstays or anchorage to provide a restoring force under changing loads. One indication of this is the extreme weight of the pylon member needed in the Alamillo Bridge compared with other cable-stayed bridges such as the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, which has a backward-inclined pylon and backstays. The total mass of the pylon of the Alamillo Bridge is over 10 times the pylon mass of the Erasmus Bridge, which has even a longer span than the Alamillo.
Puente del Alamillo on en.broer.noPuente del Alamillo in Factoría Urbana: Photos and technical information about the bridge
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Alamillo Bridge - WikiArquitectura
{{Coord, 37, 24, 48, N, 5, 59, 25, W, region:ES-SE_type:landmark, display=title Alamillo Alamillo Bridges by Santiago Calatrava Alamillo Tourist attractions in Seville World's fair architecture in Seville Seville Expo '92 Neo-futurism architecture Inclined towers Bridges over the Guadalquivir River
Seville
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...
, Andalucia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...
(Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
), which spans the Canal de Alfonso XIII, allowing access to La Cartuja, a peninsula located between the canal and the Guadalquivir River. The bridge was constructed as part of infrastructure improvements for Expo 92, which was held on large banana farms on the island. Construction of the bridge began in 1989 and was completed in 1992 from a design by Santiago Calatrava
Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stadiums, and museums, whose sculp ...
.
Design
The static concept of the bridge can be traced back to the 1986 sculpture by Calatrava entitled 'Running Torso', in which inclined stacked marble cubes are balanced by a tensioned wire. The Alamillo Bridge consists of a single straight steel-shell tower, infilled with reinforced concrete and inclined backward, counterbalancing a 200 m span with thirteen pairs of cables. Since the weight of the tower is made to be sufficient to counter-balance the deck, back stays are thus not required, effectively substituting the weight of an inclined tower for one set of stay cables. In this way, a new type of cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge was conceived in 1987.
The original intent was to build two symmetrical bridges on either side of the island, but in the end the Alamillo's singular asymmetric design has proved most striking.
The bridge deck consists of an hexagonal steel-box-beam spine to which the stay cables are attached. Side steel wings cantilevered off the hexagonal spine support the traffic decks, three lanes on each side. The top of the hexagonal spine, elevated 1.6 meters (5 feet) above the road level, serves as an elevated footway and cycle lane in between the traffic lanes.
This bridge represented the soaring aspirations of the city of Seville in preparation for Expo '92, and is visible from the top of La Giralda, the former minaret which is the sentimental roof of the city, linking Seville's past and present. Similar to the Brooklyn Bridge, there is an elevated walkway for pedestrians. In addition to the elevated walkway, the Alamillo Bridge features a lookout at the top of the inclined tower, accessible by a stairway enclosed within the tower.
The Alamillo Bridge is the first cable-stayed bridge that is balanced solely through the weight of the massive tower, not requiring any type of back stays or anchorage. There are 54 steel piles under the bridge, acting passively under the tower. Calatrava's Sundial Bridge
The Sundial Bridge (also known as the Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay) is a cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge for bicycles and pedestrians that spans the Sacramento River in Redding, California, United States and forms a large sundial. It was des ...
in Redding, California
Redding is the economic and cultural capital of the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California and the county seat of Shasta County. Redding lies along the Sacramento River, north of Sacramento, and south of California's northern border ...
(2004), the Mesoghion Avenue Footbridge in Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
and Chords Bridge
The Chords Bridge ( he, גשר המיתרים, ''Gesher HaMeitarim''), also called the Bridge of Strings or Jerusalem Light Rail Bridge, is a side-spar cable-stayed bridge in Jerusalem. The structure was designed by the Spanish architect and eng ...
in Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
(2008) are similar in design to the Alamillo Bridge.
Critique
While the Alamillo Bridge is dramatic and widely acclaimed aesthetically, an analysis of its structural engineering show that it has an inefficient dynamic structural form because of the lack of backstays or anchorage to provide a restoring force under changing loads. One indication of this is the extreme weight of the pylon member needed in the Alamillo Bridge compared with other cable-stayed bridges such as the Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, which has a backward-inclined pylon and backstays. The total mass of the pylon of the Alamillo Bridge is over 10 times the pylon mass of the Erasmus Bridge, which has even a longer span than the Alamillo.
See also
*Puente de la Mujer
The Puente de la Mujer (Spanish for "Woman's Bridge") is a rotating footbridge for Dock 3 of the Puerto Madero commercial district of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is of the cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge type and is also a swing bridge, but s ...
, Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
*Samuel Beckett Bridge
Samuel Beckett Bridge () is a cable-stayed swingbridge in Dublin, Ireland that joins Sir John Rogerson's Quay on the south side of the River Liffey to Guild Street and North Wall Quay in the Docklands area.
Design and construction
Architec ...
, Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
, Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
*Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay
The Sundial Bridge (also known as the Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay) is a cantilever spar cable-stayed bridge for bicycles and pedestrians that spans the Sacramento River in Redding, California, United States and forms a large sundial. It was d ...
, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
* Puente de la Unidad, Monterrey
Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is ancho ...
, Mexico
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
* Erasmus Bridge, Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...
, Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
References
External links
Puente del Alamillo on en.broer.no
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Alamillo Bridge - WikiArquitectura
{{Coord, 37, 24, 48, N, 5, 59, 25, W, region:ES-SE_type:landmark, display=title Alamillo Alamillo Bridges by Santiago Calatrava Alamillo Tourist attractions in Seville World's fair architecture in Seville Seville Expo '92 Neo-futurism architecture Inclined towers Bridges over the Guadalquivir River