YEARBOOK 2018 - 2019 | XJTLU DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE

271
272
FREESTYLE BRIDGE
DESIGN COMPETITION
2018-2019 YEARBOOK Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University Department of Architecture 西 交 利 物 浦 大 学 建 筑 系
Bridge design review with guest reviewers from the Departments of Civil Engineering and Architecture. Photographs by Christiane M. Herr.
Level 2
( Year 3 | Semester 2 )
Event Organiser
Christiane M. Herr
Guest Reviewers
Theofanis Krevaikas
(Department of Civil Engineering)
Isaac Galobardes
(Department of Civil Engineering)
Iasef Rian
(Department of Architecture)
Davide Lombardi
(Department of Architecture)
Number of Students
72
The Freestyle Bridge Design Competition is an annual event conducted
as part of the module ARC202 (Structural Design). The competition
gives students an opportunity to experiment with complex structural
systems and a variety of self-chosen materials in the realisation of
architecturally driven design ideas. The competition task this year was
to build a functional model of a bridge connecting the XJTLU North and
South campuses, with a span of 27m and supported only at the ends.
Bridges should be as lightweight as possible while supporting a weight
of 6kg distributed across the bridge. As in a real-life competition for
bridges, models should not only perform well in terms of load-bearing
capacity, but also demonstrate innovative ideas, usability, concern for
the pedestrian experience while crossing the bridge and quality of
details and general craftsmanship. To determine the winning team,
the competition integrates numerical performance evaluation with a
general qualitative assessment by guest reviewers from the Departments
of Architecture and Civil Engineering. Winning bridge models must
demonstrate good structural performance as well as good integration of
architectural ideas and structure. The competition has been conducted
for several years and is often described as a key learning experience by
participating students.
Other Activities