WEBVTT - The Skybridge, Part 1 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:14.840 Heart Radio. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:18.800 This is Robert Lamb and I am Joe McCormick. So 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:21.280 I've been kicking around the idea of doing a sky 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:26.400 bridge episode for a while. Um, these have always captivated 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:28.920 me whenever I've looked at city escapes, both real city 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.720 scapes and cities that I've visited or lived in, but 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:37.800 also just imagine cities, fictional cities, uh, futuristic cities that 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:41.720 one encounters in various films. Uh. These are of course 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:46.400 we're talking about sky bridges or sky uh walks or 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.320 you know, they're various terms one might use for these. 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:53.880 We're talking generally about enclosed bridges of metal and glass 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:58.640 or stone or other materials that connect artificial heights to 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.560 artificial heights. And UM, I don't know about about you, Joe, 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:04.440 if if you I don't think we've ever talked about this. 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:08.080 If you see if you share my my interest in 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.520 sky bridges, if you ever like gaze up at a 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:12.840 sky bridge in a city and just try and imagine 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:14.800 what it would be like to be up there in 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:18.000 it looking out. Oh absolutely, I mean there are a 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:20.479 number of these around the world, but they're rare enough 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:22.880 that they still they stick out when you see them, 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:25.600 I guess, unless you're in a in a city that 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:29.200 has a lot of them, like Calgary or something. Um. 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:31.119 But yeah, that they look like something that's a kind 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:35.520 of obvious solution that you would expect to see more 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:39.200 of in the city that's full of tall buildings. Yeah. Yeah, 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:41.399 that we can will certainly get into the practical sides 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.080 of the sky bridge, but there's also something there's something 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:47.200 attractive about it that I find almost hard to put 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.320 into words because on one level, yes, there's a view 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.240 that is available to one in a sky bridge, and 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:57.720 generally speaking, you can often look in two directions at once, 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:01.280 and and that's that's pretty neat. But by and large, 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:04.960 there's not a tremendous amount of difference between being on 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.880 the tenth floor of the building and looking out at 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:11.320 the city as opposed to being on a tenth floor 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:14.440 sky bridge and looking out of the city. Um. But 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:16.160 but for some reason, if you gave me the choice 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:19.040 between the two, the sky bridge, of course, is tremendously 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:22.400 more attractive as an opportunity. Well, and in a lot 0:02:22.440 --> 0:02:24.679 of recent sky bridges. They've started doing the thing where 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.200 they make the bottom out of transparent materials, you know, 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:29.600 some kind of tough glass, and of course, you know, 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:31.280 the kids like to jump up and down on it. 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:36.640 That's always fun. Yeah, And I think maybe with sky 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:38.839 bridges to a lot of a lot of what makes 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.520 the sky bridge attractive and interesting, it's also it's actually 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.440 wrapped up in a deeper understanding of bridges, Like we're 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:52.240 essentially taking our already existing excitement for bridges, even though 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:54.120 we see bridges all the time, and maybe that that 0:02:54.160 --> 0:02:56.520 gets kind of like pushed down in our consciousness, but 0:02:56.520 --> 0:02:58.960 then it becomes new again when we look at something 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:02.399 like a sky bridge. And also sky bridges kind of 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:06.360 I think served to exaggerate the feats of skyscraper building. Like, 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.079 for instance, if I'm looking at just a normal skyscraper, 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:11.360 it may be really impressive, but if I see a 0:03:11.360 --> 0:03:15.120 little i don't know, like a gargoyle up there or 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:17.239 some sort of like little space where a human being 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.960 could potentially stand for some reason, it draws me in more, 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.440 maybe like there's an artificial mountain aspect to it, And 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:26.120 then seeing the bridge up there kind of does as 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:29.640 much the same thing. Yeah. So in this look at 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:33.600 sky bridges, we're gonna drawn a several different sources. One 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.000 of the main sources that I'm gonna keep coming back to, though, 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:40.400 is a wonderful history overview of sky bridges titled sky 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:43.880 Bridges A History Interview to the Near Future by Anthony 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:47.840 Wood and Daniel Safaric of the Council of Tall Buildings 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.840 and Urban Habitat, published in two thousand nineteen in the 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:55.200 International Journal of High Rise Buildings. The authors here define 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:59.000 a sky bridge as quote a primarily enclosed space linking 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:01.920 two or more build things at height, and they make 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:04.200 a point of looking at structures that are, you know, 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:06.640 at least six stories and high to set them apart 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:11.400 from other mere pedestrian bridges and overpasses. Um, because I guess, 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:14.040 truly the sky bridge at least modern sky bridges have 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.080 a different feel altogether. Though some of the especially older 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:19.680 examples we're going to look at are not necessarily going 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:22.760 to be that high in the sky. Yeah, especially a 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:26.919 lot of the publicly accessible uh sky bridges or or 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.400 lower whatever you'd call the lower versions of them that 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:33.000 aren't like connecting two towers of essentially the same building 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.120 or buildings that have the same owner. Instead, they're you know, 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.800 forming a walkway for for people or pedestrians along a 0:04:39.880 --> 0:04:42.719 sort of maybe like second story level in the city. 0:04:43.160 --> 0:04:46.719 I mentioned the example of Calgary earlier. Calgary in Canada 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:50.320 has an extensive network of what have sometimes been called 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.120 sky bridges or skyways, but I think they're mostly on 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:56.400 more like the second story level, and and they're open 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.480 to the public. You know, people can walk all around 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.039 in them. Yeah. When you look of the the overall 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:05.480 history of skybridges, it's a mix of of passageways for 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:10.200 the elite, passageways for everyone and uh and and sometimes 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:12.599 you have kind of kind of like double deckers where 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.000 well one floor is for the residents, but the other 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:18.359 floors for tourists. Um, so that sort of thing. Also, 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:20.320 you have a mix of some of some of these 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:24.200 are still very much an operations. Some are not accessible 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:27.960 currently now I was I was recently in Chicago, and 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:29.760 while I was there, this was probably one of the 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:32.240 reasons that I decided, Yeah, I think now it's the 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:35.200 time to to go ahead into the skybridge episode. Because 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:39.000 I took one of these architectural tours by boat in 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.560 the city, which which I highly recommend it's a it's 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.640 a city that's it's uh, it's it's a steeped in 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:48.599 in in architecture. And therefore, if you understand the architectural 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:51.640 history of the city at least just a little bit, 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:54.080 you have I think a much better understanding of what 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:58.400 Chicago is when you when you walk around it, drive around, etcetera. 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.760 And Uh. One building in particular that you can't help 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:06.960 but notice is, of course the Wriggly Building. Uh. And indeed, uh, 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:11.479 you have this beautiful fourteenth story sky bridge connecting the 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.080 two sections. And at first glance you might think it's 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:18.039 made out of aluminum um, but it's actually made out 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:22.279 of allegheny nickel. Uh. So that's that's pretty interesting. But yeah, 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:24.080 if you look up pictures of the Wriggly Building, yeah, 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:27.400 you'll will definitely see this impressive sky bridge. Just trying 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.479 to remember if this shows up in The Fugitive, which 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:34.560 is a movie that I deeply associate with Chicago architecture 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:36.400 that I'm not quite sure why. I mean, obviously it's 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:39.000 in Chicago, I don't know what the architecture connection is. 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:42.039 I remember as a kid, I would look at pictures 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.760 of sky bridges and think, and you know, also watching 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:46.800 a lot of action films back in the day, I 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.559 kept thinking that there had to be like a great 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:52.560 action sequence where the hero has to run through a 0:06:52.600 --> 0:06:55.200 sky bridge and maybe a helicopter is firing at him 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.440 in the sky bridge, or maybe there's a fight on 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:01.880 top of the sky bridge. And maybe my memories faint 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:04.240 on this, maybe these things actually happen in some movie 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.599 or TV show. But if they didn't, I'm I'm surprised 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:10.280 it never happened. It seems like the most logical place, 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:12.840 like a weird place for some sort of a fight 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:15.640 to take place. Like why why why didn't we see 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:20.000 this in Highlander? Right? The answer is insurance problems, that 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:21.560 that was a scene and they wanted to shoot but 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:25.560 they couldn't. Probably now, if anyone, if you're a New Yorker, 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:27.760 or certainly if you've even visited New York, you've seen 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:30.680 multiple examples of this. There are some great examples of 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:34.400 both old school and modern sky bridges. Uh, you can 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:36.400 look up lists of these. I know there's I think 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:39.920 there's at least one really picturesque one that's the viewable 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:43.000 from the high line there. But then of course we 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.000 don't have to go to New York in order to 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:49.320 experience a sky bridge, because Joe, we live in Atlanta, 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.600 and we have a pretty noteworthy example of sky bridges 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:57.440 or skyways as well, and that's Peachtree Center, designed by 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:03.920 Atlanta architect John C. Portman Jr. Uh Portman lived seventeen 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:08.320 and he's famed for popularizing the atrium as well as 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:12.400 just leaving a profound mark on downtown Atlanta and U 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:15.679 One of the things that he also did is especially 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:19.280 with again with Peachtree Center, here is we see this 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:25.120 um almost excessive use of of sky bridges and skyways 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:28.640 connecting these buildings to each other. Yeah, if you drive 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:31.040 around the city center streets, you will you will see 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:34.839 a number of these. Yeah. They have a very seventies 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:40.640 modern look to them, so they're they're not the classical 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:44.120 sky bridges. They're not these supermodern looking ones you'll see 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:46.679 in many of the examples today. But this is an 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.400 example we're gonna come back to later because it's actually 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:51.719 with Portman's work that we see some of the more 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:55.800 pronounced social criticisms of the basic concept of the sky bridge, 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:59.640 which are interesting to get into. Now, another local example 0:08:59.800 --> 0:09:02.200 here in Atlanta. The High Museum of Art has some 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.240 great sky bridge is part of the Rinzo Piano designed 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.839 addition to the Core Museum in two thousand five. Joe, 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:10.720 I know you've walked through these Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:13.400 so there you always get some some brilliant sunline. There's 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:16.880 that all that beautiful white architecture going on. I think 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.240 I associate them with the sudden feeling of being irradiated 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:24.320 because you've been in the uh climate. Because you've been 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:26.960 you have the climate control galleries, and then suddenly, yeah, 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:30.200 here's the sun now. Would in Safari point out that 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:32.720 the most common function of the sky bridge is of course, 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:36.720 to convey traffic from one building to another without forcing 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:39.920 individuals to descend down to the ground level or even 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:44.839 below ground level, potentially exiting and re entering the building, which, 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:47.680 of course, if you're dealing them, especially with a building 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:49.840 that has some sort of a security system in place 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:53.079 and security check ins and checkpoints, we can see where 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:56.640 that would that could become problematic. Easier to have people 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:01.920 uh enjoy access to both buildings the bridge um and 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.640 you also have situations where okay, maybe we don't want 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.440 people having to cross the street deal with traffic or 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:11.200 adverse environmental conditions. Yeah, I was trying to think what 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:14.280 would be the main factors motivating somebody to connect buildings 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:17.840 via skybridge versus just having people you know, enter an 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.160 exit at the surface level like they normally would. And yeah, 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:21.720 those are some of the main things that came to 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.000 mind for me. Bad weather and climate that that's got 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:27.640 to be a motivator, which is also true of places 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:31.560 that have more underground tunnels connecting buildings together. Um. But 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:34.760 then yeah, also bad traffic and like thoroughfares that are 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:38.120 hard to cross. So for example, uh, this this would 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:42.000 also include places where the where the streets are not 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.319 always streets, where there's not ground on the streets, such 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.439 as cities with canals. Sometimes you have sky bridges to 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.480 cross those. And then of course you have security concerns, 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:52.720 like if you have I don't know, high security government 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:56.080 buildings or something I mentioned, they try to limit the 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:58.679 necessity to go outside and enter a different door and 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.199 do that whole thing all over again. Yeah. So, so 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:04.240 obviously there are some some some basic reasons why you 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:08.360 might have a skybridge connecting to buildings. Um. However, the 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:12.520 authors here also classify some sky bridges as as quote 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:17.080 enclosed programmatic sky bridges, meaning that there's something about them, 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:21.160 something inside them to draw people to them beyond just 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:25.040 mere conveyance. For example, that one example they give is 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.760 the American Copper Buildings in New York City built in 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:32.520 two six which feature a robust two story skybridge full 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:36.880 of common rooms and swimming pools for residents. It's a 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:41.040 great place to go swimming. Yeah, it's it's it's an 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.480 interesting choice. I mean, it looks like it has a 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:46.680 tremendous view though, I would imagine, yeah, view and just 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:49.560 sort of novelty has got to be one of the 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:54.520 main points for these enclosed programmatic sky bridges, because again, 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:59.480 they're not so common connecting American buildings and in American 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:03.040 cities that you're just numb to them. Now, like going 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:06.240 into skybridge is kind of interesting and unique, unless you know, 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:07.760 you just happened to be one of the few people 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.560 who lives or works in buildings where you cross one 0:12:10.600 --> 0:12:13.319 every day. Yeah. Now, they also bring up a few 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:16.480 additional expansions on the form. One is something they called 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:20.479 the sky plane, and this is essentially a shared horizontal 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.920 roof structure for two or more buildings. And the example 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:28.920 they bring up is Marina Based Sands in Singapore. Uh, Joe, 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.160 if you should probably just look up a picture of 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:34.240 Marina Bay Sands and and just take this in because 0:12:34.280 --> 0:12:36.400 I would have to say, I mean, I'm I'm no 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.560 judge of architecture here, but it looks almost a little 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:44.240 bit ridiculous. It's this. It looks like there is a 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:50.440 ship perched atop three identical skyscrapers. Yes, it's a cruise ship. 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:54.000 There is a cruise ship on the buildings. Yeah, which 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:57.320 I mean, I guess it looks really cool up there. Um, 0:12:57.400 --> 0:12:59.560 it makes me a little bit queasy to look at 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.920 something these aerial shots of it for some reason. But yeah, 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.520 it looks it looks very nice. Uh. And I guess, 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:07.920 And and certainly we can imagine it's that we may 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.120 come back to this one as we think about some 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:14.640 arguments to be made for similar structures. They also bring 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:18.120 up the idea of building as sky bridge. So this 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:21.440 is when the horizontal bar of the sky bridge is 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:24.760 so massive in comparison to the rest that it is 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.400 more of a defining part of the building itself rather 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:31.480 than something that bridges it. And this also is a 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:33.720 is a statement one could make about like the nature 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:35.360 of the skybridge. One of the examples will come to 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:37.680 in a in a minute. Either the skybridge is not 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.800 really um firmly set in place, it's kind of setting 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:45.200 in there, kind of slotted into place, whereas building as skybridge, 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.719 it's like it's all one structure. Um. The example they 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:52.360 bring up is the CCTV headquarters in Beijing. This is 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:54.480 a building I believe it was built in twenty eleven, 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:58.400 and it looks basically like a really boxy upside down 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:03.600 you very cool design. Yeah, i'd characterize it as it 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:05.880 looks like it was built out of the out of 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:08.960 giant versions of the L shaped Tetris blocks, and they're 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.559 connecting above the ground way you know, many many stories up. 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:14.800 But yeah, it's clear that this is not just a 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.560 little hallway connecting the upper levels of a skyscraper. A 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:22.240 substantial portion of the the occupied part of the building 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:25.720 is hanging over air. Yeah. Yeah. And and it also 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:29.280 looks like it could walk just like like two legs 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.520 and a pelvis. But but like they walked out of 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:36.640 the Tron universe or something. You offend the master control program, 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:40.080 this building comes walking at you it probably does. Ya, 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:48.560 thank thank. Now you might be wondering, well, what's the 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:52.200 highest sky bridge in the world. Well, I believe if 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:54.480 the Guinness Book of World Records is correct on this, 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:59.280 it is the Patronis Towers in on Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:03.480 The this is a quote a double deck bridge at 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:07.240 the forty one and forty two floors. It's a hundred 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:10.320 and seventy or five fifty eight feet above the ground 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:12.760 and measures fifty eight ms or a hundred ninety feet 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:17.040 in length, weighs seven fifty metric tons. Uh and this 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:22.080 building opened in uh. This one is really cool looking. 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:24.080 This is one of the ones I was talking about 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:30.239 earlier where it's essentially it's a connector between two towers 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:33.120 that are the same building. Like it's all one complex, 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:35.680 but the complex consists of like a you know, a 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.440 lower level thing and then two towers going straight up 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:40.680 and they're connected in the at the middle of their 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:43.720 height by this sky bridge. Yeah, this is an interesting 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:45.680 one to look at two because first of all, it's 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:50.360 like it's so high up and at the floor you 0:15:50.400 --> 0:15:52.520 can imagine a good case being made, like what if 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:54.680 you need to get to the next tower. Uh, you 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.360 don't want to go down forty floors and then up 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:00.680 another forty floors. What if you could just walk over? Um? 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:02.560 And of course you can adjust the math based on 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:04.680 what floor you're trying to get to in each tower. 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:07.360 And I think it's an area of the complex that 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:10.640 has increased foot traffic because there's sort of a sky 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:14.200 lobby concept, like you go halfway up the towers and 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:19.000 there's it's not just more regular office occupancy there, there 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:21.960 are I don't know, lobbies and and and things for 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:23.800 people to hang out and walk around and do at 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:27.120 that level. Yeah, and apparently one whole floor that is 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.080 for is open to to tourists and as you know, 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:32.800 part of this lobby concept. The other is apparently closed 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:36.320 off and more for residents or businesses what have you. Um. 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:38.600 But it's it's neat that on top of this, and 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:42.560 not only is it mere conveyance, but also it adds 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:44.960 at least a little bit of structural support as well 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.560 as a possible means of evacuating individuals from one tower 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:52.440 into the other during an emergency. Maybe not a primary function, 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:55.240 but but one that they've apparently looked into, Like what 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:57.160 if there was an emergency in one tower, but the 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:00.120 other tower was still viable. Uh. That's one way you 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:03.160 could help get people out. It's also interesting that this 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:07.800 bridge is not directly connected to the buildings. It's designed 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:10.760 so that it can shift or slide in and out 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:15.600 of them to to counterbalance building sway from the winds. Well, 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:18.040 So that's I mean, this is something that I always 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:20.960 forget about skyscrapers, and then I'm told about skyscrapers, and 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:22.640 it kind of whigs me out a little bit, the 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:25.840 the idea that, yes, they're not just purely stationary. They 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:27.439 have a little give to them. There's a little bit 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.359 of sway involved, and certainly if you have a bridge 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:34.400 connecting to uh skyscrapers, you have to take that into account, 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.359 all right. So at this point I thought we might 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:39.879 get into some of the history of the skybridge. I mean, 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:42.280 one of the things about our our look at skybridges 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:43.640 here is we're not going to be able to look 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:47.480 at every step in the process. We're not gonna take 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:51.400 use skybridge by skybridge through human history. But we thought 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:53.600 it might be a good idea to hit on some 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:56.760 key examples, some of which are more historical in nature. 0:17:57.359 --> 0:17:59.920 UH and before we get into some of the psych 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:04.440 logical aspects, before we get into some of the futurist 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:07.199 ideas that are tied up with sky bridges. And so 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:10.760 a great place to start is to travel to Italy. Surely, 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:13.000 I think maybe we should start by taking a look 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:17.200 at the Bridge of Size or the Ponte day Suspiri 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:21.199 in italian Um. You know, Suspiria, like Suspiria, like the 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.359 movie Size the Size, this is a beautiful one. And 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:26.040 this is one where if you you look it up, 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:29.679 you'll instantly recognize it. You'll instantly find yourself longing to 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:33.359 be in a gondola with with with your beloved or 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:37.320 some imagine beloved, perhaps with a glass of wine in hand, 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:42.000 very ironically romantic. I'll get to that. So the Bridge 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:45.360 of Size is is it really interesting landmark in Venice, 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:49.840 a city that already is already unusual in many of 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:52.480 its thoroughfares because many of them are not streets but 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:56.720 canals navigated by boat. And one of these canals, known 0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:00.359 as the Rio de Palazzo, is crossed over by a 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:06.000 totally enclosed limestone bridge connecting two buildings on either side 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:08.159 at the level of what looks like about the second story. 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:14.160 It is covered with elaborate Baroque decorations, having been commissioned 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:18.080 by the Doge Marino Grimani. And no doge is a 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:21.600 word that had a meaning before before internet memes. It 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:24.160 has nothing to do with dogs. It was an office 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:27.440 in medieval and Renaissance Italy. It was like it was 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:29.400 kind of like being like a lord or some other 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:32.880 kind of executive. So it was this doge, Marino Grimani, 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:34.919 who commissioned it. I think it came up in the 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:39.720 early seventeenth century. Apparently it is tradition for couples to 0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:42.879 kiss as they pass underneath the bridge in a boat 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:45.359 or I don't know if it's tradition, it's at least 0:19:45.400 --> 0:19:47.840 something a lot of people do. I think especially tourists, 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:51.800 and tourists are often taking pictures of themselves kissing with 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:54.000 this bridge in the background. You can probably find plenty 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:56.439 of those on the internet if you want. So, what 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:59.000 is the purpose of this hallway in the sky over 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:02.400 the canal that's the causing people to to spontaneously break 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:05.320 out in kissing. Uh, you might wonder what you know, 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:08.040 was it connecting two wings of a library or an 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:12.800 art museum? Maybe so people could move uh, priceless antiques 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:14.960 and books and artworks back and forth in the rain 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:18.240 without getting wet or something like that. No, not at all. 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:22.320 It was a bridge connecting the Doges Palace and the 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:27.000 inquisitors facilities within to the prison on the other side 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:30.040 of the canal. Uh. And so it's called the bridge 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:34.280 of size because of the size of the doomed prisoners 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:38.640 who walked within. Apparently conditions in the prison were pretty nasty. 0:20:38.760 --> 0:20:41.920 So I've I've at least read the allegation that being confined, 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:45.080 they're frequently resulted in death. So you would, you know, 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.240 you would sigh knowing your fate was sealed as you 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:51.119 were taken across the Bridge of Size into the jail. 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:54.320 Well that's not romantic at all. That's horrible, and it 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:57.359 makes me wonder. Okay, then, why in particular was this 0:20:57.520 --> 0:21:01.040 enclosed and not just not just an open bridge. I 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.480 don't I don't know this, but I wonder if the 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:06.680 reasoning had something to do with like preventing prisoners from 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:08.760 trying to escape by jumping over the edge into the 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:13.040 canal and getting away. Yeah, yeah, I mean, also, I 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:15.960 guess given the nature of the work going on, there. 0:21:16.000 --> 0:21:18.719 Maybe you don't want them seen by anybody going by 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:21.359 in a boat. Uh, that sort of thing. I also 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:24.439 have to say, now that you reveal its true nature, 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:27.000 I kind of see a skull in this design. I 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:29.239 don't know if that's I mean, granted, we tend to 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:35.680 lean into uh anthromomorphic details of things anyway, but now 0:21:35.720 --> 0:21:38.439 that I know it's it's secrets. Yeah, I kind of 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:42.400 see these these teeth and two I sockets and uh 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:45.640 and in a nose socket there. Well, I can't find 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:48.360 a close up shot to look at right now, though 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:51.560 I do think the bridge bears a certain um famili's 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:53.480 coat of arms. It might have been the family of 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:57.080 the Doge or or someone else. But uh, but possibly 0:21:57.119 --> 0:21:59.080