Friday, July 27, 2012

On the Road | Urban Rivers





I am always fascinated by water in urban environments. Water is actually the main reason why cities come to existence, since ancient times, before trains, cars and airplanes any body of water —from oceans to rivers and lakes— represented a main transportation and communication means.
Rivers in special way intrigue me as their flow, in constant movement, and part of a cycle. Downtown Pittsburgh arises from the intersection of three rivers: is the confluence of three rivers: the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which form the Ohio River.




Bridges are sculptural expressions; you can find any example of structural vocabulary in the 446 bridges spanning from Pittsburgh in a spider web fashion. As a matter of fact Pittsburgh is also been called as "the City of Bridges" as well "the Steel City" for its  and former steel manufacturing base.
Pittsburgh and more generally Pennsylvania made me think of a land where man power encounters the power of nature: landscapes of steel crosses a varied topography where the land is cut by water,