The viaduct over the Basento River, Italy-Sergio Musmeci
The viaduct over the Basento River, Italy. by an Italian architect, Sergio Musmeci.
The shape of the viaduct is the direct consequence of the structure: this particular shape is thought to minimize the material and to maximize the performance. The shape derives from the study of the behavior of the membranes and the choice of considering a structure that only works on traction.
Sergio Musmeci’s very cultured and refined activity is the answer to those who believe that the studies concerning the relationship between architecture and mathematics are much too theoretical. Musmeci is one of the most daring and transgress engineers born in the twentieth century; he was master equally of music, astronomy, aeronautics, mathematics, and philosophy, all of which informed his structures, whose shape was determined by the spatial distribution of static actions. Musmeci thought that he could reach the expression of “modernity” through science. He is the designer of a project for the bridge on the
Sergio Musmeci’s very cultured and refined activity is the answer to those who believe that the studies concerning the relationship between architecture and mathematics are much too theoretical. Musmeci is one of the most daring and transgress engineers born in the twentieth century; he was master equally of music, astronomy, aeronautics, mathematics, and philosophy, all of which informed his structures, whose shape was determined by the spatial distribution of static actions. Musmeci thought that he could reach the expression of “modernity” through science. He is the designer of a project for the bridge on the
Strait of Messina that has been only recently understood and appreciated, more than twenty years after its conception.
This subject of research, crisscrossing through Musmeci’s studies, beginning with the solution of a scientific problem in which he was engaged since he was a student, the determination of the arch-limit shape. “Its equation is y = log cos X (a part from some multiplicative constants depending on the resistance of building materials)” and it looks like a very extended parabola. This curve has some very interesting properties, particularly that the angle between the median axis of the parabola and the horizontal line is proportional to its abscissa, that is, the distance from the vertical axis. The limit span of this arch is that distance corresponding to a 90° angle.
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