A2: Fitzpatrick

1) The major design goal for this bridge was to sketch the most cost effective yet structurally safe bridge possible. After performing some experimentation, it seems as if a square bridge with triangle crossmembers is the best way to go. Additionally, some small vertical crossmembers on the upper triangles in the bridge were added to help increase strength.

2) Plan View

3) Elevated View

4) Front View

5) Truss Build of Materials

6) The design of this bridge did not change very much once the structural shape was decided. Many different ideas came about at first, but once this design started to take shape, there wasnt much looking back. The most difficult part during this bridge design was adhering to the limited list of pieces allowed to use. Many designs were just not possible because of a lack of chords of a certain length, therefore limiting the possiblility of a wide variety in the design.

7) This design project showed that one has to learn to "work with what they have" in certain situations rather that just designing anything. Needing to build a bridge with only 5 different length chords proved to be a challenge similar to one of the real world. The ability to succeed in situations like this is a vital skill that will turn out to be critical in the future.