Hand Bridge

I should start off by saying that I am not an architect, structural engineer or a person educated in the construction and building of the worlds infrastructure. What I am is a thinker and lately I have a lot of free time to think about things that will probably never happen but are cool to imagine. This is one of those things. I was in London in the fall of 2008 and I was amazed at some of the new and modern architecture sprouting up there. I remember standing over by the Tate Modern and looking out over the London skyline and counting 36 high-rise cranes. Those were just the ones in my field of vision and within sight. I can only imagine how many there really were out there. Many of the cranes were being used to help build the facilities for the Olympics in 2012 and I can only imagine what that city will look like then. So, here is my whimsical idea and admittedly it was inspired by the millennium bridge that goes across the Thames river from roughly the Tate Modern to St. Paul's Cathedral. I liked how the bridge seemed open and compact yet spindly. My idea would be similar to that bridge but with two large differences. The supports that rest in the river would not be bland pillars but rather two very oversized life-like looking hands. These hands would appear to be bending the bridge and give it a nice mini arc in the middle. The large fingers would wrap over the top and built into the hands would be a small observation tower through the fingernails. Imagine that! From far away it would look like a large human is grabbing the bridge and trying to bend it. I'll admit, I don't think it'll ever be built anywhere but the moment it's completed, it turns into an instant landmark and tourist attraction. It would make great photos and would add some humor to otherwise boring and pedantic objects that we use and take for granted because they lack emotion. But this is built in. I made soem fancy drawings that I need to scan and update this blog post. So, come back to this one for my hastily scribbled drawings of my hand bridge. G'night!