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Originally Posted by frinkprof
This "third option" is encompassed by the second. "Overwhelming acceptance" does not mean "accepted by each and every citizen" and thus leaves room for the tiny segment that, say, 10 years from now will still bitterly look upon it and refuse to acknowledge that there might be a shred of good that came from it. This tiny segment currently makes up a portion of those that see the bridge, in and of itself, as a huge travesty and the single biggest issue in a municipal election.
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I have no bitterness towards the bridge, its an inanimate object. I have problems with the look of the bridge, I have trouble with how it came to be, I have trouble with the cynical after the fact naming of the bridge. I have trouble that we're building something thats suppossed to encourage environmental friendliness, yet we're building most of it overseas, shipping it across the ocean and then driving it across the country.
To me the whole process and the bridge itself smacks of hypocrisy.
I think its a silly looking design, and it does nothing for me. I've seen some Calavtra bridge designs that I really admire, this isn't one of them. And I don't see myself as a tourist visiting a town because of a bridge.
I think that a lot of Calgarians are going to view this bridge as a monument dedicated to the arrogance of City Hall, and one more thing that this city failed to handle in a proper manner. I do feel that when everything is said and done this bridge will probably end up over budget just like everything else that this council has handled.
I don't deny that this city deserves nice things, but to me this bridge is ridiculous, and forgive me if I find that the design looks lazy and accidental.
Isn't the point of a bridge like this to impress, maybe give a little awe, maybe stir something in your chest. This doesn't do that for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by frinkprof
Now, in an older thread, CaptainCrunch, you and I were more or less in agreement on the fact that this bridge does have issues surrounding it, many of which go far beyond the single example of the bridge. I am not ignoring that fact with my comments, and they are important. That said, most of your comments regarding the bridge, and in particular, its design (including the latest of many Austin Powers "it looks like a huge... ") come off as rather bitter. While there's no accounting for taste (including taste in bridge designs) or discretion in the overuse of decade-old pop culture references, I'm mostly taking issue with the way you state them. This is especially true in your lack of regard (in past posts, not necessarily this one) for the significant design and engineering challenges this project presented, and how they were solved. Calling it a "lazy" undertaking, as you have a few times before, is ignorant, to put it bluntly.
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We have a difference of opinions, but to me this looks like the designer laid a used towel roll across to piles of books separated by a difference slightly smaller then the towel roll drew some lines on it and yelled Eureka.
Quote:
Originally Posted by frinkprof
Speaking of the design, phallic forms aren't exactly new to architecture (bridges, buildings, monuments or otherwise). Look at almost any tower in any downtown. A shining example is the Calgary Tower. Hell, the Calgary tower actually has two smaller, square-formed buildings proposed for either side of it that have been colloquially been referred to by those in-the-know as "the nuts," "the balls," or "the testes." I'd say more than half of large architectural pieces could have the penis reference leveled against them. It's the nature of the beast. A covered bridge that is much longer than it is wide, or an upright building with similar proportions just might come out looking sort-of like a penis. Amazing to think.
By the way, my offer from a previous thread still stands:
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I know that a great deal of architecture is phallic in nature, I'm not new. Who hasn't snickered when it Washington when you see the Washington Monument.
I find the Austin Powers thing amusing, because everytime I see pictures of this bridge design I have flashbacks to those scenes.
Oh and I don't want money or bribery, I'm interested in seeing what the final election results are and how this bridge factored into peoples voting decisions.
Its too late to send the bridge back and get our money back. We as Calgarian's have to live with it. Its done, its just too bad that we got something that IMHO is so underwhelming.
I look at Calatrava bridge designs, and I just think that this thing looks lazy.