The bridge is one of the greatest works ever created by mankind.
It can be both simple in form and complex in construction, or vice versa.
From a structural point of view, it can be an arch, suspended or cable-stayed..
It can be made from many different materials, from historic masonry to modern steel and reinforced concrete, to simple wooden walkways.
The bridge has always been a presence in architecture since ancient times, simply adapting to technological evolution in terms of materials and new available technologies, but the basic knowledge has not changed over time.
A generally valid principle, but unfortunately often ignored nowadays, is that high technology does not necessarily have to sacrifice aesthetics for economy..
Whenever we intervene in the landscape, whether already urbanized or still untouched, by inserting a new element, primary attention should be paid to aesthetics, understood as the impact the work will have on the environment, followed by technology, choosing the most appropriate among those available.
Not least are the costs in human lives sometimes recorded with these works.
Consider the case of the Forth Bridge (Scotland, 1890), long considered a marvel of the industrial era and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June 2015, where up to 4,600 workers were involved in construction and there was the loss of 98 lives..
Is it therefore reasonable to consider a work that claims victims even before it can serve the purpose for which it was made a great work to be preserved?
Perhaps it is time to sometimes set limits not so much related to the feasibility of the work or economic sustainability, but to the human sustainability of the work itself.
Thus, the creation of works destined to inevitably mark changes in the environment in which they are inserted and the people who interact with them also brings many contradictions, but what does not change is the meaning it carries, which has crossed millennia unchanged and which consciously or not still guides the construction of bridges: to unite two parts that were originally divided.For this reason, bridges are among the greatest works ever created by mankind, for their metaphorical significance as well as their practical utility.
In fact, theattraction to the unknown, the drive towards beyond, the other, the differenthas activated in humans the creative ability to “build bridges” that allow communication and the possibility of meeting between different realities, without hindering the flow of what was pre-existing.
Where bridges are built, there is no total assimilation, fusion, or identification, but rather growth of knowledge and exchange of ideas..
The bridge is thus a concrete experience of unity and diversity together,of opposites that originally seemed very distant and suddenly find themselves so close as to interact with great ease.
Be careful, however, because a bridge cannot be built alone; indeed, you start from one end, but if there is no support, that is, no one reaching out a hand from the other side, it cannot be done..
For those who deal with psychology,dreaming of a bridge is usually a positive dream because it means you are close to achieving a goal,to the reunion of feelings and people with the dreamer.
In particular, dreaming of a suspended bridge means that courage is not lacking, because you are willing to reach your goal, even taking risks.
Consider the type of the Tibetan Bridge,: originally made with only ropes anchored at the ends connected by the bridge itself and without intermediate supports.
In such a structure, the tighter the ropes, the more stable the bridge, as lateral oscillations are reduced: that is, the more people on it, the more stable it is (within load limits, of course).
So, if we want to bring this notion to a metaphor,the more people take a certain path together, the stronger the group becomes.
And Meeters isn’t that, after all? A great suspended bridge between one person and another? Between one region and another?
Between one culture and another?
A bridge between various different experiences that all meet in a common passion: the pleasure of being together,, of spending time immersed in nature, and sharing unforgettable moments.
What do you think? How do you behave when faced with distances, differences? Do you build bridges or raise walls? ;-)