The Brits Who Built The Modern World

[adriana]

Excellent documentary started tonight on BBC4, the rise of Sir Norman Foster and his contemporaries. Good soundtrack too.... Kraftwerk, Tubeway Army and even The Stranglers. We'll worth a watch on I player.

[jaydee1964]

Fuck I knew I had something to record on sky+ deffo iPlayer thanks for the reminder

[Hammersmith1982]

Norman Foster did the Millau Viaduct in the South of France, and it's stunner to drive over. I've done it 8 or 9 times now and it still makes us slow down to just look at it.

[droopsnoot]

I've seen a couple of documentaries about that bridge, looks great. The pylons apparently are hollow and have ladders up the centre - you can keep that.

I recall when it was first designed, it wasn't going to have the suspension parts on, just be a flat bridge, but there was some concern over whether it would be strong enough. To test it when completed, they got eight construction trucks, filled them with rubble and drove them over the bridge in close formation (2 across, 4 deep)!