In
the beginning of November 2001 the press reported that in the Norwegian small
town of As, 20 kilometres outside
Oslo, a bridge based on the Leonardo da
Vinci’s
project was constructed. Information is sensational mainly because of
the name of designer. The Norwegian bridge consists of three glulam timber
arches on which a platform for pedestrians abuts. Da Vinci sketched the bridge
viewed in front and from above. On the sketch in front, one can see that the
bridge structure is made of two
circular vaults. The shape of the bridge in the
horizontal projection is determined by elliptical arches. They are created when
two slanted planes intersect circular vaults. Apart from a general form, the
bridge does not have much in common with the Leonardo’s project.