‘Bridges: Spanning the World’ documents outstanding examples of structural design

“Bridges rank among the most adventurous, beautiful and enduring structures ever to be built”, says architectural historian, writer and campaigner Marcus Binney, whose new book ‘Bridges: Spanning the World’ documents more than 100 structures. “Quite apart from their intrinsic qualities, they capture the imagination thanks to the way they stand in the landscape”, says Binney, and for the stories that they tell about political history, religion and folklore, and the expanding horizons of human endeavour (such as the vertiginous Ponte Dom Luís I, over the river Douro at Porto, above).

Binney’s examples are drawn from around the world and across the centuries, and range from the works of ancient masons and medieval carpenters to projects by contemporary architects and engineers.

‘Bridges: Spanning the World’
Marcus Binney
Pimpernel Press, £40

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