Wynn Earl

SHADOWbridge was a personal design and fabrication project which fulfilled a course requirement in Structures II. Traditionally the project was to build a shadowbox that showcased the connections between different materials. I chose to adapt the scope of the assignment, as well as the budget, to build a functioning 16’ bridge to cross a koi pond at my residence.

The bridge’s spanning member is a .25” steel T, which was plasma cut from a hot rolled flat steel sheet and then welded, sand blasted, and finished with four coats of lacquer. The deck is Ipe, and is secured with 108 carriage bolts. One end on the bridge is rigidly anchored to a concrete foundation with threaded rods and the other hooks onto a steel pipe creating a pin connection that allows for expansion.