Leonardo di Vinci’s 500-year-old design that may have revolutionized the way bridges are built never left his sketchpad – until now.
MIT researchers have used the power of 3D printing to successfully create a replica of the overpass that was rejected for being too radical for its time.
The mini version was found to remain stable and strong without the use of any mortars or fasteners, which is how the Renaissance man had envisioned it.
Recent MIT graduate student Karly Bast teamed up with professor of architecture and of civil and environmental engineering John Ochsendorf and undergraduate Michelle Xie, to answer this five century old question – would di Vinci’s bridge actually work?
The team analyzed available documents, the possible materials and construction methods that were around at the time, and the geological conditions at the proposed site, which was a river estuary called the Golden Horn for this study.
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