Tag Archives: structure

Pemberton Community Barn

A short drive north of Whistler brings you to a town called Pemberton.  It is a little town and right in the center is a public barn structure.  It is a modern structure and it has been built to provide a venue for the community to use.  It has open sides so anyone can walk in from any direction.  An event was being set up while we were there.  It looked like it might have been a wedding.  The wooden structure is very attractive and it appears that it gets a lot of use.  What a great focus for the community.

Cliffwalk – A Feat of Engineering

One more post from our visit to Capilano.  The deep valley that the river runs through and that the bridge crosses has some steep, rocky sides.  These have provided another opportunity for the owners to add some interest.  They have mounted a walkway along the cliff face.  I don’t know what inspired this but if you have seen the walkway at the Grand Canyon or the glass boxes on the Sears Tower (watcha talking about Willis) then you see a similar them.

These paths run on structure built in to the cliff face.  They are shaped so, while you have normal width handrails, the foot section is narrower so you have a more obvious view downwards.  You have no doubt how high up you are.  Meanwhile, you get to see the mounting points that have been driven into the cliff face to support all of this.

One section of the path is a semi-circle that is suspended by cables mounted on the cliff face.  It is a dramatic part of the structure and everyone is fascinated by it when they get there.  Don’t anticipate moving through this section too quickly because it does tend to back up a bit.  A little later I walked above this section and found a spot where you can look directly down on the curve and it takes on a whole new perspective.  I think it is quite beautiful.  Winding your way along the face of the cliffs on these walkways is very cool and is definitely not to be overlooked if you visit.

Hwy 99 Crosses the Water

To get from Seattle to Fremont, you have to cross the water.  Highway 99 runs across a high bridge to get from one side to the other.  Being underneath the bridge you have a very different perspective on things.  It is an old bridge structure with concrete piers supporting the roadway.  From underneath, the symmetry of the structure is quite appealing.  What is apparent when you are there but is not so clear in a picture is the steepness of the hill as it drops away down to the water.  The gradient is pretty dramatic.  The bridge does climb a bit but the ground falls away far faster.

What Happened to the Old Bridge?

Walking across the bridge from the overflow parking to the top of Snoqualmie Falls, I looked down the river to the top of the falls just beyond the barriers to stop errant boaters getting too close.  I also noticed something in the water below us.  For a while I was trying to work out what it was.  Then, courtesy of polarizing glasses, I could see through the reflections and make out the shape of some structure.

It looks to me like this was a previous bridge.  It sits just below the current bridge alignment and looks like it would have been the right size and shape to be a bridge span.  I wonder whether it collapsed or whether, when the replacement bridge was being built, it was simpler to dump the old span into the river than to take it away.  There could be another explanation of course and maybe it isn’t even part of a bridge.  However, it clearly is something man-made sitting on the bed of the river.

Gas Works Park

In the days before natural gas, the gas supplies for towns and cities came from making gas from other sources such as coal.  Gas works were a big feature of towns.  However, they have disappeared as natural gas replaced them.  The huge metallic structures have been taken away and the land has found new purposes.  Seattle managed to both find a new use and keep the works.

The north end of Lake Union has Gas Works Park.  Much of the gas works has been cleared away but substantial chunks of the metal work remain in place.  Some is cordoned off but other parts have been integrated into displays.  We both commented on the complexity of the pipes and valves and how everything had a role.  The geometry of the structures and the connecting pipework were great to look at.  The middle of the day is not the best time to photograph this so I will think about coming back at some point to have a wander around specifically for photography.  However, on a sunny day, a park by the lake with tons of people seemed to be a very relaxing place compared to how this would have been when it was in use.

Lookout Post Skeleton

At the bottom of the Devil’s Slide trail, there are the remains of a building.  This appears to have been a lookout location.  There were a number of military installations here at one point.  Just south of the tunnel entrance and up on the headland is the concrete core of what was once one of the buildings.  The ground has eroded away at the base of the structure and the walls have gone in some places but the concrete core is still there.  It has been covered by graffiti artists over the years and is still popular with the more adventurous types.  A couple was climbing into it while we were there.  It looks pretty cool on a sunny day.  On a cold and foggy day, I suspect it will be a bit more depressing.

The Less Subtle Bits of Dreamliner Design

AU0E2346.jpgAirliner design is a complex task with many compromises. It is not a surprise that some aspects of the design that results aren’t exactly what you would like. Today I am picking on one particular type – the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. This is almost as new as it gets in the airliner design world so you would expect it to be better than what came before.   However, having seen a number of them recently, I have been focused on two areas of the design that are rather disappointing. One is the wing root fairing area and the other is the cargo doors.

AU0E3642.jpgA nice smooth design is what the old aero guy in me likes to see and the inlets and fairings around the transition from the fuselage into the wing root are pretty ugly. They are obviously there as a result of functionality requirements but it does not look good and I imagine it comes with a drag penalty that has had to be accepted.

AU0E2336.jpgThe other area is the cargo doors. I am not sure whether this is a function of the load transfer requirements from composite to metal in the hinges but this area looks rather chunky and draggy. I know from previous projects that the nature of composites versus metals means that you can end up with some large joining fixtures to redistribute the loads but there may be other reasons I haven’t thought about. Given how smooth some metallic fuselage cargo doors are, these jumped out at me. Perhaps I have never looked closely enough at other types. Whatever the fairness of it, I just don’t like what they have done here.