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Constructing a bridge: an exploration of engineering culture, design, and research in nineteenth-century France and America

1997; Association of College and Research Libraries; Volume: 35; Issue: 01 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5860/choice.35-0257

1943-5975

Eda Kranakis,

Historical Architecture and Urbanism

This book investigates how national traditions shape technological communities and their institutions and become embedded in everyday engineering practice. The author examines the work of two suspension bridge designers of the early nineteenth century: the American inventor James Finley and the French engineer Claude-Louis-Marie-Henri Navier. Finley -- who was oriented toward the needs of rural, frontier communities -- designed a bridge that could be easily reproduced and constructed by carpenters and blacksmiths. Navier -- whose professional training and career reflected a tradition of monumental architecture and had linked him closely to the Parisian scientific community -- designed an elegant, costly, and technically sophisticated structure to be built in an elite district of Paris. The author shows how local environments can shape design goals, research practices, and design-to-construction processes.