28 June 2011

The Ha-Ha Bridge, Yorkshire Sculpture Park


This was one of the earliest bridges I featured on this blog, which I recently visited at its home in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Designed by the artist Brian Fell, it's nearly little more than a conceptual joke - the Ha-Ha embedded in the two sides of the bridge is simply the term for the ditch below.

I still like the way each "parapet" is the reverse of the other, stencil-style. It's clear that the arch does little to support the bridge - the deck is a steel plate, supported on either edge by the lower part of the fascia plate, which returns below the bridge to form a sort of channel section. Plate diaphragms are welded at regular intervals, stiffening the deck plate and stabilising the arches.


It may only be an artist's conceit, but it still has its charm.

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