AESTHETICALLY NOTORIOUS BRIDGES

Following a suggestion by Charles Whitney in his 1929 book Bridges, Th eir Art, Science, and Evolution, bridge aesthetics literature publishe d in the last 100 years were studied to discover what oservations coul d be made about bridges that were the object of aesthetic criticism. T he most significant finding is that writers in the field of bridge aes thetics are almost unanimous in one aspect of their criticism: they si ngled out fewer than ten of the world's major bridges for aesthetic co ndemnation. In fact, the most pointed criticisms were directed at just five bridges: the Lansdowne in Pakistan, Williamsburg and Queensboro in New York City and Tower and Hungerford in London. This paper highli ghts what engineers and others have said about what can now be dubbed the world's most 'aesthetically notorious' bridges and considers what lessons can be learned.