Bridges: The Art and Science for Creating Community Connections

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 08.04.09

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Introduction
  2. Objectives
  3. Strategies
  4. Bridges
  5. Calatrava's bridges
  6. Activities
  7. Lesson Plan 1: The Examination of the Structure of Leaves and Humans
  8. Lesson Plan 2: Finding and Developing Ideas from Nature as Inspiration for Bridge Designs
  9. Lesson Plan 3: The Building of the Bridge Models
  10. End Notes
  11. Bibliography for Teachers
  12. Reading List for Students
  13. Materials for Classroom Use
  14. Implementing District Standards
  15. Appendix

Bridges: Inspired by Nature

Karen Ruth Sturdy Yarnall

Published September 2008

Tools for this Unit:

Calatrava's bridges

Calatrava has built over 50 bridges. Because of time constraints, only selected bridges of his will be shown. The Alameda Bridge in Valencia, Spain, is an arch bridge for road traffic, as are the James Joyce Bridge in Dublin, Ireland, and the Observatory Bridge in Liege, Belgium. The Alamillo Bridge in Seville, Spain, the Toolenburg Roundabout Bridge in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands, and the Turtle Bay Sundail Bridge in Redding, California, are all cable-stayed bridges for road traffic. The Campo Volantin Footbridge in Bilbao, Spain, is an amazing pedestrian arch bridge with a suspended transparent lighted deck. The Katehaki Bridge in Athens, Greece, the Trinity Footbridge in England and the Milwaukee Art Museum Pedestrian Bridge in Wisconsin are all for pedestrian traffic but are examples of cable-stayed bridges.

Comments:

Susan Mitchell Hechter

March 11, 2009 at 11:52 am

Karen Yarnall

Sounds like an appealingly appropriate project for High School.

Damian Nash

October 14, 2016 at 2:34 pm

Extraordinary Resource!

Karen Yarnall has absolutely captured the magic of the same curriculum theme that I have been using in my IET Core classes at Kauai High School. Her arts-integration approach to bridge design leads students into a mathematical appreciation of the natural world and also the world of design. This is the way that Calatrava should be understood and appreciated! Well done. Bravo! Her lesson plans will significantly improve my own. I wish I could borrow her PowerPoint slide shows as well. Damian Nash

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