This was the question explored by students on the “Science in Society” track at Gymnasium Osterbek high school last week as part of a two-day workshop at our office.
The workshop gave the 11th-grade students an insight into the work of civil engineers and an understanding of the basics of bridge design: What are the different types of bridges and structural systems? What are the constraints that need to be taken into account? And how do all these considerations come together to give birth to a functional design?
After the theoretical introduction, the students broke into small groups to each tackle a hands-on task: Together, they developed their own bridge designs – with impressive results.
All this was followed by a walk through HafenCity, passing completed bridge projects. This gave the students a chance to apply what they had learned directly to real-life examples and to discover the different structural systems involved for themselves.
Many thanks to Gymnasium Osterbek for the fun visit and the enjoyable interaction!
