Ebook Six Bridges : The Legacy of Othmar H. Ammann, by Darl Rastorfer
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Six Bridges : The Legacy of Othmar H. Ammann, by Darl Rastorfer
Ebook Six Bridges : The Legacy of Othmar H. Ammann, by Darl Rastorfer
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Othmar Ammann's name may be unfamiliar, but the six magnificent New York City bridges he created are known to all: George Washington, Bayonne, Triborough, Bronx-Whitestone, Throgs Neck, and Verrazano-Narrows. Ammann's long-span bridges came to define an epoch and shape the modern New York metropolis. This book is the first to examine the genius of Ammann and the special group of bridges he designed and engineered as part of the New York region's interstate highway system. With more than 200 archival photographs, the book vividly displays the physical transformation of New York, the development of long-span suspension structures, the construction process of each bridge, and the spectacular completed bridges. Widely considered the greatest American bridge designer of the twentieth century, Swiss-born Ammann (1879-1965) gained experience designing railroad bridges in Pennsylvania before beginning his work in New York City. This book considers the artistic, scientific, and technical achievements embodied in the six major bridges Ammann produced between 1925 and 1964, as well as the bridges' impact on the city. The book features an illustrated and annotated list of all Ammann's built and unbuilt projects and a glossary of technical terms.
- Sales Rank: #1018371 in Books
- Published on: 2000-04
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: .84" h x 10.88" w x 9.82" l, 2.51 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 224 pages
From Booklist
"It is a crime to build an ugly bridge," said Othmar Ammann, and the first span he built as an independent engineer, New York's George Washington Bridge, was among the elegant bridges recounted in Henry Petroski's fine Engineers of Dreams (1995). This handsome album summarizes Ammann's career and exhibits 200 photographs and design drawings of his principal achievements: the GW Bridge, the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, the Throgs Neck Bridge, the Triborough Bridge, the Bayonne Bridge, and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Rastorfer's text provides the political context (especially the muscle of public works czar Robert Moses) surrounding the creation of these distinctive elements of New York's skyline, but Rastorfer is more enthused about Ammann's management of these bridges' construction and his contribution to their unique engineering elements and overall aesthetic. The black-and-white images exalt the artistic aspects of the bridges, proclaiming their beauty and vitality to the life of the city, while commemorating their immigrant Swiss designer. Gilbert Taylor
About the Author
Darl Rastorfer is director of Projects in the Design Arts, Inc., a New York-based nonprofit educational organisation. He is curator for the Cooper Hewitt Museum exhibition Six Bridges: The Making of the New York Megalopolis that is showing in galleries across the United States.
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Master craftsman
By Yaakov (James) Mosher
I'd like to take this opportunity to "thank" Othmar Ammann for creating the main object in my worst nightmare - The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (the nightmare involves getting a flat tire while traveling the upper deck). It's good to face your fears and Darl Rastorfer's fine book "Six Bridges: The Legacy of Othmar H. Ammann" enabled me to face mine in the least threatening way possible. The book would be an excellent addition to any coffee table or a keeper in the car for when you're getting a tire replaced.
"Six Bridges" is actually a concise history of bridge building in the United States with no shortage of drama including Ammann's investigative leadership of the Tacoma (Washington) Narrows collapse, which still ripples through the civil engineering world today.
Swiss-born Ammann became the greatest long suspension bridge designer and master craftsman. Rastorfer uses Swiss-like economy in taking us through the engineer's four-decade career from his first design submission for the George Washington Bridge in 1924 to the opening of the Verrazano in 1964. We learn that Ammann wanted to return to Switzerland more than once but destiny repeatedly intervened with project challenges growing in tandem with his reputation.
The author neatly rivets together personal and technical information, creating a sturdy and handsome edifice. Nuances showing in the personal demonstrate Ammann's deep-seated entrepreneurship including parting ways with mentor Gustav Lindenthal when Lindenthal refused to climb down off his giantism in contemplating a Hudson River crossing. Ammann's close relationship with New Jersey Gov. George Silzer gave the engineer courage to break with Lindenthal, Rastorfer notes (p. 25). Another ally and collaborator was the main character of the book "Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York." Lots of nuance to pick through in that fellow's legacy.
Ammann joined the Port Authority of New York in 1925, the year he became a U.S. citizen. Offspring from that period include the Bayonne Bridge and Lincoln Tunnel. Years before the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey got its official name it existed in the person of Othmar Ammann.
Interesting that Ammann's early career was spent connecting New York and New Jersey and his later works involved better connecting parts of New York City. Logically, you would have expected the reverse. Not surprising at all upon learning what bridge building, the auto industry and that "Power Broker" guy with his highways created in the Five Boroughs after World War II. "Build it and they will come" comes to mind.
The Verrazano-Narrows is just as likely to confound sociologists as civil engineers. After his "muscular" Throgs Neck Bridge triumph, what did Ammann have left to prove? Rastorfer nails it using the engineer's own words - to create "an enormous object drawn as faintly as possible" (p. 138). We come to learn that the Empire State Building is a toothpick compared to the long-span Louisville Slugger hewn by Ammann. New York should be called The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge State but that doesn't fit on a license plate.
Our author scales the heights through compelling photos and prose summarizing the 12-year effort. We meet Hard Nose Murphy and the fearless "Boomers." My conservative nose got rankled by the demolition that forever changed Bay Ridge, Brooklyn (might as well call it "Bay Bridge" now) and management stalling on putting up netting after three workers fell to their deaths. Netting went up after unionized workers walked off the job (wonder if that would happen today) and four workers were saved by the netting. As Gay Talese does in his book "The Bridge," Rastorfer enables the back-stage heroes to take a bow.
Ammann must have been grateful for G-d creating men able to laugh in the face of vertigo. The crewmen must have been glad for a master craftsman that used each project to create another world engineering benchmark. Rastorfer has recorded their achievements, which some of us drive by or on unthinkingly every day, in such a memorable way.
Hopefully, the 65th anniversary of the creation of Ammann & Whitney, Consulting Engineers (which occurred when Ammann and partner C.C. Combs joined forces with reinforced concrete design pioneer Charles Whitney) will be marked in some way this year. When that occurs we should reexamine the pillars of Ammann's work - shining like the towers of one of his bridges. Like an Ammann design both will surprise upon close inspection - 1) Bridge engineering is NOT an exact science (p. 38) and 2) "It is a crime to build an ugly bridge" (p. 35). Given these, how was Ammann able to create an unbroken chain of success? See the end of Chapter 1 for the master craftsman's humble and surprising answer.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
A Great 20th Century Bridge Engineer's Work
By Thomas Ammann
"Six Bridges - The Legacy of Othmar H. Ammann by Darl Rastorfer is a very well written book about a great 20th Century engineer and his engineering feats in long span suspension bridges. This is a must read for everyone for it reveals the trials and tribulations of a man who made history by using scientific principles to design world record breaking bridges.
With his European education Ammann sought out a dream to come to America and seek opportunities in the new country. Within two weeks he started his first position. The early years of Othmar Ammann's career are clearly outlined showing how he gained his knowledge with diligence in various career positions. His thoroughness and dedication to hard work is demonstrated by the trust, faith and confidence of the people who hired him. His reputation was building.
I enjoyed the stories which tell of his character building during hard times also. After his plans for a bridge challenged his future with an employer, he was able to move on and demonstrate his convictions with successful accomplishments. Interesting political considerations are also profiled in the important decisions of costly construction and pressures from public opinion. Ammann's skill to work with people results in many obstacles being overcome.
When the trials and tribulations of office competition evoled, Ammann had the fortitude to break away and start anew. He was a man of visions and had dreams to fulfill. He was a man of principles and nothing could sway him. He was confident his engineering background and skills could lay a path of successful bridge design and construction.
No other bridge engineer has influenced one city more than O.H. Ammann. The history of the planning stages of the designing and construction of these six bridges is well written and interesting for all readers. These six bridges: Georg Washington, Bayonne, Triborough, Bronx-Whitestone, Throngs Neck, and Verrazano-Narrows all are beautifully photographed. A chapter for each bridge outlines their construction with great description and many breathtaking photographs. If you have never been to New York Ctiy this author will certainly take you there with beautiful photos and interesting, informative narrative. Another book including O.H. Ammann's life is: Henry Petrosky's - "Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders"
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Not just for Engineers: A Love-song to New York City Bridges
By A Customer
This book is as special to New Yorkers as it is to Engineering Enthusiasts. As New Yorker in Exile, I now live a life where if I traverse one major bridge a year, it's an event. When I lived in New York City (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Stane Island at various times), the crossing of these major Bridges was a daily event. Not a day went by when I didn't listen to the Traffic reports and have to quickly calculate my Commute strategy in order to choose the most efficient Span to cross. When going Upstate to visit the parents, I often crossed The Whitestone, Throgsneck or Tri-borough if traffic was too congested in Manhattan. Sometimes, I'd cross the Verrazano, The Brooklyn and the George Washington. This book honours the creation of the modern bridges, their design, construction, completion and functionality as well as describing the political and economic climate in which they were conceived and completed. It answers many of the passing questions that came to my Driving Mind as I stalled in traffic at the Tolls of these Bridges and it brings back memories of my life in the City of Islands. As I mentioned in the title of this review, while kinda technical and history-laden, this is a love song to the Bridges of New York City. Buy it, read it and you'll learn to be grateful for living in a time when these bridges ease travel and not curse them as I used to do occaisonally during Jams. Before reading this book, I never bothered to imagine New York before them and now I appreciate them all the much more.
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