Bridges should be beautiful | Ian Firth

翻译人员: jacks peng 校对人员: Yolanda Zhang

The world needs bridges.

世界需要桥梁。

Have you ever thought about what it would be like not to have any?

你们有想过一个没有桥的世界吗？

It's hard to imagine a civilization without bridges

很难去想像一个没有桥的文明，

because they're so essential

因为在人类社会的发展过程中，

for growth and development of human society,

桥梁始终都是不可或缺的，

but they're not just about a safe way across a river or an obstacle.

桥梁不仅让我们安全地 跨过河流或者障碍，

They shout about connectivity --

它们更象征着一种连通性——

community.

将社区彼此连接。

They reveal something about creativity,

它们体现了创造力，

our ingenuity --

我们的智慧——

甚至还暗示着我们的身份。

they even hint at our identity.

And when bridges fail,

而当桥垮了，

or are destroyed in conflict,

或在冲突中被毁，

communities struggle,

社区受创，

development stagnates, people suffer.

发展受阻，人民受苦。

Even today,

即便今天，

there are over one billion people living in poor, rural communities

全球仍有超过十亿人

生活在贫困的乡村，

around the world

that do not have safe, year-round access

他们没法随时随地享受到

to the things that you and I take for granted:

我们习以为常的安全的资源：

education, medical care, access to markets ...

如教育，医保，商场等等...

which is why wonderful organizations like Bridges to Prosperity

这就是诸如“繁荣之路” 那样伟大的组织

build bridges in this kind of place -- this is in Rwanda.

在这种地方修桥的原因—— 这是卢旺达。

And they make such a difference,

他们让一切变得大不同，

not only to those lives immediately around the bridge,

不仅对住在大桥周边的人，

but the impact of these bridges is huge,

而且这些桥的影响是巨大的，

and it spreads over the whole community,

延伸至整个社区，

far, far away.

直到很远很远的地方。

Of course bridges have been around for an awfully long time.

当然，桥梁很早之前就出现了。

The oldest ones are stone because it's a very durable material.

最早的桥是石桥， 因为石头是一种非常耐用的材料。

I don't know about you --

我不知道你们怎么想——

我个人最喜欢目睹科技的发展，

I love to look at the development of technology

to learn about what people did with the materials

去了解人们是怎样使用当时的

and tools available to them at the time.

材料和工具的。

So the Pont Du Gard in the center is a wonderful example --

图中的加尔桥 就是一个完美的例子——

Roman aqueduct in the South of France --

这是位于法国南部的 古罗马引水桥——

fantastic piece of technology built using massive stones put together,

通过精妙绝伦的技术 将巨大的重石堆在一起——

dry -- there's no mortar in those joints.

连接处没有任何砂浆。

They're just dry stone joints --

它们完全用石头搭建起来——

fantastic

太了不起了，

and almost as good as new today.

而且现在依旧完好如初。

Or sometimes up in the mountains,

有时候在高山之中，

人们会建这样的吊桥，

people would build these suspension bridges,

often across some dizzy canyon,

通常用于跨越恐怖的峡谷，

using a vine.

只使用藤曼。

In this case, this is in Peru.

这个例子是在秘鲁。

This is using grass which grows locally

他们使用本地生长的一种草

and is woven into ropes to build these bridges.

编织成绳子来建成这些桥。

And do you know they rebuild this every year?

你知道他们每年都会重建吗？

Because of course grass is not a durable material.

当然是因为这些草并不耐用。

So this bridge is unchanged since Inca times.

这些桥从印加文明时期 就没有改变过。

And bridges can be symbols of their location.

桥梁也是居住地的地标。

Of course, Golden Gate and Sydney are well familiar.

当然，金门大桥和悉尼更为人所知。

In Mostar the bridge was synonymous with the name of the place,

在莫斯塔尔，桥梁用当地的地名命名，

and to such an extent that in the war in 1993

某种意义上，如在1993年的战争中，

when the bridge was destroyed,

当桥梁被摧毁，

the town all but lost its identity until the bridge was reconstructed.

这座城镇就失去了灵魂， 直至这座桥被重建。

And bridges are enormous features in our landscape --

桥也是我们的 景观中的一大特色——

not just enormous, sometimes there's small ones --

不仅是大桥，小桥也一样——

而它们真的是非常有特色，

and they are really significant features,

and I believe we have a duty to make our bridges beautiful.

而我认为，我们有责任 让桥梁更加美观。

Thankfully, many people do.

幸运的是，有很多人这样做了。

Think of the stunning Millau Viaduct in the South of France.

想想让人惊叹的 法国南部的米约高架桥。

French engineer Michel Virlogeux and British architect Lord Foster

法国工程师Michel Virlogeux和 英国建筑师Lord Foster

collaborated together to produce something

合作建造了这座桥，

which is a really spectacular synergy of architecture and engineering.

它是建筑与工程辉煌的融合体。

Or Robert Maillart's Salginatobel Bridge in the mountains in Switzerland --

或者是位于瑞士山间的 Robert Maillart的Salginatobel桥——

absolutely sublime.

十分宏伟壮观。

Or more recently,

还有最近时期的，

Laurent Ney's beautiful and rather delicate bridge

Laurent Ney为英国的 廷塔杰尔城堡所打造的

for Tintagel Castle in the UK.

精妙绝伦的桥。

These are spectacular and beautiful designs

这些都是设计巧夺天工的桥，

and we need to see more of this.

我们期待更多这样的作品。

Bridges can be considered in three convenient categories,

桥梁一般可以分为三类，

depending on the nature of the structural system

是根据桥梁的

that they adopt as their principal support.

结构受力体系来划分的。

So, bending, of course, is the way a beam will behave --

弯曲是梁式桥的受力体系——

so, beams and bending.

梁式桥会受到弯曲力。

Or compression is the principal way of operating for an arch.

承压是拱桥的主要受力体系。

Or for the really long spans you need to go lightweight,

还有对于跨度很宽的桥， 就需要自重轻，

as we'll see in a minute,

我们等会儿都会看到，

and you'll use tension, cables --

你会用到张力，缆绳——

suspension bridges.

悬索桥。

And the opportunity for variety is enormous.

多样化的潜力是无限的。

Engineers have a fantastic scope for innovation and ingenuity

工程师在创新和创造方面 有非凡的眼界，

and developing different forms around these types.

他们可以围绕这些类型 建造各种各样的桥梁。

But technological change happens relatively slowly in my world,

不管你们信不信，与移动电话和 电脑，以及其他数字技术上的

believe it or not,

变化相比，

compared to the changes that happen in mobile phone technology

技术发展的速度在 我的（建筑）世界里

and computers and digital technologies and so on.

是相对比较缓慢的。

In our world of construction,

在我们的建筑世界中，

the changes seem positively glacial.

这些变化似乎非常缓慢。

And the reason for this can be summarized in one word:

原因可以用一个词来概括：

risk.

风险。

Structural engineers like me manage risk.

像我这样的结构工程师 需要管理风险。

We are responsible for structural safety.

我们为结构的安全性负责。

That's what we do.

这是我们的工作。

And when we design bridges like these,

当我们在设计这样的桥梁时，

I have to balance the probability that loads will be excessive on one side

我必须平衡一边的负荷会超载，

or the strength will be too low on the other side.

或另一边的强度太低 等情况发生的概率。

Both of which, incidentally, are full of uncertainty usually,

这两种情况通常都充满了不确定性，

and so it's a probabilistic problem,

所以这是一个概率问题，

and we have to make sure

当然，我们必须确保

that there's an adequate margin for safety between the two, of course.

这两者之间有足够的安全空间。

There's no such thing, I have to tell you,

我得告诉你们，世界上并没有

as absolute safety.

绝对的安全。

Contrary to popular belief,

和大众普遍的看法相反，

zero risk doesn't exist.

零风险是不存在的。

Engineers have to do their calculations and get their sums right

工程师们需要完成这些计算 并得出正确的结果，

to make sure that those margins are there,

以确保留出了足够的安全空间，

and society expects them to do so,

这是社会所期望的，

which is why it's all the more alarming when things like this happen.

这也是这些事情发生时 让人警醒的原因。

I'm not going to go into the reasons for these tragedies,

我不打算深入分析 这些悲剧发生的原因。

but they are part of the reason

但它们是

why technological change happens quite slowly.

技术变化之所以缓慢的部分原因。

Nobody wants this to happen.

没人想让这样的事情发生。

Clients don't want this to happen on their projects, obviously.

客户当然不希望它们的工程 发生这样的悲剧，这是显而易见的。

And yet of course they want innovation.

当然，他们也想要创新。

Innovation is vital.

创新是至关重要的。

As an engineer, it's part of my DNA.

作为工程师，这是我DNA的一部分。

It's in my blood.

融入在我的血液中。

I couldn't be a very good engineer if I wasn't wanting to innovate,

如果不想创新，我就 不是一个好的工程师，

but we have to do so from a position of knowledge and strength

但我们只能以知识，力量和理解

and understanding.

为基础才能实现创新。

It's no good taking a leap in the dark,

盲目激进是没有用的，

and civilization has learned from mistakes since the beginning of time --

文明需要从错误中学习， 从一开始就是这样——

no one more so than engineers.

没人比工程师更明白这一点。

Some of you may have seen this film before --

有些人可能看过这个影片——

这是华盛顿州知名的塔科马桥

this is the very famous Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse

in Tacoma, Washington state,

倒塌的画面，

1940.

发生在1940年。

The bridge became known as "Galloping Gertie"

这桥后来被称为“舞动的格蒂”，

because she -- she?

因为她——她？

Is a bridge female? I don't know.

桥的性别是女的吗？我也不知道。

She was wobbling like this for quite a long time,

她像这样摇摆了很长一段时间，

and notice this twisting motion.

注意这个扭曲的运动。

The bridge was far too flexible.

这座桥实在是太有弹性了。

It was designed by a chap called Leon Moisseiff,

它是由一个叫 Leon Moisseiff的人设计的，

no stranger to suspension bridge design,

他并非悬索桥的设计新手，

but in this case he pushed the limits just that little bit too far

但在这个案例中， 他把极限推得太过了，

and paid the price.

并为此付出了代价。

Thankfully, nobody was killed.

幸运的是，没人因此丧命。

But this bridge collapse stopped suspension bridge development

但是这座桥的倒塌阻止了

dead in its tracks.

悬索桥的发展。

For 10 years nobody thought about doing another suspension bridge.

在随后10年间，没有人 想去建造另一座悬索桥了。

There were none.

没有人。

And when they did emerge in the 1950s,

当他们在1950年代 想去建造这样的桥时，

they were an understandable overreaction,

人们有点过度反应了，

this sort of oversafe response to what had happened.

这是对所发生事情的 过度安全反应。

But when it did occur in the mid-60s,

但当这样的桥在 60年代中期又出现时，

there was indeed a step change --

情况已经大大改观——

an innovation, a technological step change.

创新，技术上的进步出现了。

This is the Severn Bridge in the UK.

这是英国的塞汶大桥。

Notice the aerodynamically streamlined cross section

注意看中间的空气动力流线型的

in the center there.

横截面。

It's also a box which makes it very torsionally stiff --

这个盒子结构使其非常稳固——

that twisting motion which we saw at Tacoma would not happen here.

在塔科马看到的这种 扭曲运动就不会在这儿发生。

And it's also really lightweight,

而它的自重也很轻，

and as we'll see in a moment,

我们马上会看到，

lightweight is really important for long spans,

自重轻对于长跨度非常关键，

and everybody seems to want us to build longer spans.

每个人似乎都想让我们去 建造更长跨度的桥。

The longest at the moment is in Japan.

目前跨度最长的桥在日本。

It's just under 2,000 meters -- one span.

它只有不到两公里—— 一个跨度。

Just under two kilometers.

不到两公里。

The Akashi Kaikyō Bridge.

日本明石海峡桥。

We're currently working on one in Turkey which is a bit longer,

我们在土耳其正建造的桥要长一些，

and we've designed the Messina Bridge in Italy,

而我们设计的意大利梅西纳大桥

which is just waiting to get started with construction one day,

则正等着开工建设，

who knows when.

天知道什么时候才能动工。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I'm going to come back to Messina in a moment.

我等会儿再回到梅西纳桥。

But the other kind of long-span bridge which uses that tension principle

而另一种使用这种 张力原理的长跨桥

is the cable-stayed bridge,

是斜拉桥，

and we see a lot of these.

我们看过很多这样的桥。

In fact, in China they're building a whole load of these right now.

事实上，在中国，他们正在 建造大量的这类建筑。

The longest of these is the Russky Bridge in Vladivostok, Russia --

其中最长的是俄罗斯 海参葳的Russky桥。

just over 1,100 meters.

刚刚超过1100米。

But let me take you back to this question about long-span and lightweight.

我们再回到长跨度 和自重轻的问题。

This is using Messina Bridge as an example.

用梅西纳大桥来举例。

The pie chart in the center represents the capacity of the main cables --

中间的饼状图展现的是 主缆的承载力——

that's what holds the bridge up --

就是是支撑桥的力量，

主揽的承载力。

the capacity of the main cables.

And notice that 78 percent of that capacity

注意，有78%的承载力

is used up just holding the bridge up.

被用来支撑桥体的重量。

There's only 22 percent of its capacity --

只有22%的承载力，

that's less than a quarter --

不到其1/4——

available for the payload,

用于有效载荷，

the stuff that the bridge is there to support:

用于桥所支撑的东西：

the railway, the road and so on.

如铁路，道路，等等。

And in fact,

而事实上，

over 50 percent of that payload --

超过50%的有效载荷，

of that dead load --

静载荷——

is the cable on its own.

是缆绳本身。

Just the cable without any bridge deck.

只是缆绳，不含桥面。

If we could make that cable lighter,

如果我们可以让缆绳变轻，

we could span longer.

就可以实现更长的跨度。

Right now if we use the high-strength steel wire available to us,

如果我们使用高强度钢丝，

we can span, practically speaking, around about five or six kilometers

实际上可以实现 大约5到6公里的跨度，

if we really push it.

努努力的话。

But if we could use carbon fiber in those cables,

但如果我们在这些 缆绳中使用碳纤维，

we could go more than 10 kilometers.

就可以建跨度超过10公里的桥。

That's pretty spectacular.

这是个让人惊叹的数字。

But of course superspans is not necessarily the way to go everywhere.

不过当然，超级跨度 并不一定适合于任何地方。

They're very expensive

它们造价昂贵，

and they've got all sorts of other challenges associated with them,

而且还有伴随而来的各种挑战，

当我们在跨越宽阔的河口或海湾时，

and we tend to build multispan

when we're crossing a wide estuary or a sea crossing.

我们倾向于建造多跨度桥。

But of course if that sea crossing were somewhere like Gibraltar,

当然，如果那个海上通道 是像直布罗陀这样的地方，

or in this case, the Red Sea,

或者这个例子中的，红海，

we would indeed be building multiple superlong spans

我们确实会建造多个超长的跨度，

and that would be something spectacular, wouldn't it?

那的确相当壮观，不是吗？

I don't think I'm going to see that one finished in my lifetime,

我想我不会在有生之年 看到这个完成了，

but it will certainly be worth waiting for for some of you guys.

但对在座的有些人来说， 倒是值得期待一下。

Well, I want to tell you about something which I think is really exciting.

我想告诉大家一个 我觉得非常让人激动的事情。

This is a multispan suspension bridge across very deep water in Norway,

这是挪威一座跨越 非常深的水域的悬索桥，

and we're working on this at the moment.

我们目前仍在施工中。

The deep water means that foundations are prohibitively expensive.

深水意味着打造地基的成本 高得让人望而却步。

So this bridge floats.

所以这座桥是漂浮着的。

This is a floating, multispan suspension bridge.

这是座漂浮的多跨度悬索桥。

We've had floating bridges before, but nothing like this.

我们以前建过浮桥， 但没造过这样的东西。

It stands on floating pontoons

它站在浮动的浮筒上，

which are tethered to the seabed and held down --

这些浮筒被拴在 海床上并被压住——

so, pulled down against those buoyancy forces,

以对抗浮力。

and in order to make it stable,

为了保持稳定。

the tops of the towers have to be tied together,

塔楼的顶部必须绑在一起，

otherwise the whole thing would just wobble around

否则整个结构就会发生摆动，

and nobody will want to go on that.

没人想从上面过去。

But I'm really excited about this

我对这种设计非常感兴趣，

because if you think about the places around the world

因为你想想，全球各地

where the water is so deep

那些水深的地方，

that nobody has given a second thought to the possibility of a bridge

没人曾考虑过打造桥 或其他任何通行工具的

or any kind of crossing,

可能性，

this now opens up that possibility.

而这座桥开启了这种可能。

So this one's being done by the Norwegian Roads Administration,

这是由挪威公路管理局完成的，

but I'm really excited to know

而我迫不及待地想知道

where else will this technology enable development --

这个技术还能 推动哪些地方的发展——

that growing together,

增强联系，

that building of community.

构建社区。

Now, what about concrete?

那么，混凝土呢？

Concrete gets a pretty bad name sometimes,

有时候混凝土并不很实用，

but in the hands of people like Rudy Ricciotti here,

但是在像鲁迪里奇奥蒂 这样的人手中，

look what you can do with it.

看看你可以用它来做什么吧。

This is what we call ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete.

这就是我们所说的 超高性能纤维增强混凝土。

It's a bit of a mouthful.

有点拗口。

Us engineers love those kinds of words.

美国工程师喜欢这些词。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But what you do with this --

但你能用它来建造什么呢——

this is really superstrong, and it's really durable,

这种材料非常结实耐用，

and you can get this fantastic sculptural quality.

你可以得到这种神奇的 雕塑般的效果。

Who said concrete bridges are dull?

谁说混凝土桥梁呆板无趣？

We could talk about all sorts of other new technologies and things

我们可以谈论 各种各样的正在发展的

新技术和新事物，

which are going on,

机器人，3D打印，人工智能等等，

robots and 3-D printing and AI and all of that,

但是我想带你们回到 我之前提到的一些东西。

but I want to take you back to something which I alluded to earlier on.

Our bridges need to be functional, yes.

我们的桥梁必须是 功能性的，是的。

They need to be safe -- absolutely.

它们必须是安全的——绝对的。

它们需要实用和耐用。

They need to be serviceable and durable.

But I passionately believe they need to be elegant;

但我坚信，它们也需要造型优雅，

they need to be beautiful.

时尚美观。

Our bridges are designed for a long time.

我们的桥梁设计 考虑到了经久耐用。

We tend to design for 100 years plus.

服务寿命在100年以上。

它们将在那里呆很长时间。

They're going to be there for an awfully long time.

Nobody is going to remember the cost.

没人记得建造成本。

Nobody will remember whether it overran a few months.

没有人会记得是否 它们已经寿终正寝。

But if it's ugly or just dull,

但是如果它是丑陋的，或是无趣的，

it will always be ugly or dull.

就一直是丑陋或无趣的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Bridges --

桥梁——

beauty enriches life.

美丽能够丰富生活。

Doesn't it?

不是吗？

It enhances our well-being.

它能提升我们的幸福感。

Ugliness and mediocrity does exactly the opposite.

丑陋和平庸则恰恰相反。

And if we go on building mediocre, ugly environments --

如果我们继续建设 平庸丑陋的环境——

and I believe we're becoming numb to that stuff --

我相信我们对 这些东西已经麻木了——

if we go on doing that,

如果我们继续这样做，

it's something like a large-scale vandalism,

就如大规模的破坏行为，

which is completely unacceptable.

这是完全不可接受的。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

This is a bridge in Lyon in France,

这是法国里昂的一座桥，

which was procured through a design competition.

他的设计灵感来源于一场设计比赛。

And I think we need to start talking to those people who procure our bridges

我认为我们需要开始 和那些采购我们的桥梁，

and our structures,

我们的结构的人谈谈，

because it's the procurement which is often the key.

因为采购过程常常很关键。

Design competitions is one way to get good design,

设计比赛是得到好设计的一种方法，

but it's not the only one.

但不是唯一的方法。

大量正在进行的采购中，

There's an awful lot of procurement going on

不乏一些对好设计的偏见。

that is absolutely prejudiced against good design.

So yes, technology happens a bit slowly sometimes in my world.

是的，技术在我们这个世界 有时候发展比较缓慢。

But I'm really excited about what we can do with it.

但我依然对现在 所能做的事感到无比兴奋。

Whether it's saving lives in rural Africa

不管是在非洲农村拯救生命，

or stretching the boundaries of long-span technology

还是扩展长跨技术的边界，

or just crossing the road next-door,

甚至只是穿过隔壁的马路，

I hope we continue to build elegant and beautiful stuff

我希望我们能持续建造 优雅和美丽的事物，

that save lives and build communities.

来拯救生命和构建社区。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）