The World's Most Beautiful Bridge Just Opened - #205

The World's Best Construction Podcast

The episode explores significant global construction milestones, beginning with the unveiling of Taiwan's Danjiang Bridge, a visually stunning asymmetric

Key takeaways

• The Danjiang Bridge in Taiwan utilizes an asymmetric single-tower design to traverse the Tamsoi Estuary.
• Engineering the Danjiang Bridge required overcoming challenges like soft ground, typhoons, and active shipping lanes.
• Philadelphia's new arena, designed by Populous and Moody Nolan, will host the Flyers, 76ers, and a new WNBA team.
• The hosts criticized the Philadelphia arena design for its 'Egg McMuffin' aesthetic and potential LED screen maintenance issues.
• Trimble's ProjectSight 360 Capture allows field staff to integrate 360-degree imagery directly into existing project management software.

Main topics

• Danjiang Bridge Engineering
• Philadelphia Arena Design Critique
• Trimble Reality Capture Technology

Notable quotes

The design is beautiful... the way the tower rises, the way it curves and splits.

Conclusion

The episode provides a balanced look at high-end architectural achieve

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:07) This is where they are building the largest nuclear fusion reactor in the world. Speaker 1 (0:13) A friend of mine told me I had to check out this pool. America on Main Street and at the dinner table is talking about infrastructure when 20 years ago they Speaker 3 (0:22) didn't even know what that meant. Today, those towers are an astounding display of wealth, prestige and engineering. It's Speaker 2 (0:29) impacting everyday Speaker 1 (0:30) Americans. I Speaker 3 (0:31) am Speaker 1 (0:32) against Speaker 3 (0:32) the train. The way it's being done Speaker 2 (0:35) right now. Your city housing is a Speaker 4 (0:37) scam. It is a scam, scam, scam, scam, Speaker 2 (0:40) scam. The Shard in central London is being officially opened today and at 310 metres tall, it's Europe's newest and tallest skyscraper. Speaker 3 (0:49) Hello, I'm Fred Mills. And this is the world's best construction podcast by the B1M. Speaker 3 (1:01) Hello and welcome to our latest episode of the World's Best Construction Podcast. Today's episode is sponsored by Trimble. I'm your host Fred, talking to you from London and joining me on the line from just across London is Mr Luke Bly, dialing in all the way from Sydney, Australia, Mr Liam Marsh. Three of us together again, it's the best bit of the week. How you doing guys? Speaker 4 (1:21) Oh, isn't that lovely? What a lovely welcome. I love that. Very emotional, Fred. I love it. I was at the regatta. in my hometown this weekend and there were spitfires flying overhead. I know you're an aviation fan, aren't you, Fred? Unbelievable. I could tell by the engine. That's how you know I'm getting better at the whole aviation thing. I was like, that's a spitfire. Mrs. goes, no, it can't be that. No, it is. It was that. So there you go. That's as interesting as my week's been. Speaker 2 (1:50) I don't know Speaker 4 (1:51) about you, boys. Speaker 2 (1:55) Amazing, mate. I went to a kite show. at Bondi Beach on the weekend. Speaker 3 (2:02) It's actually really cool. Giant kites. Speaker 2 (2:05) Yeah, giant festival. It's actually pretty awesome. They had this huge kite set up along the beach. It was pretty good. Then they all eventually got tangled up together. Had to pull them all out. Did Speaker 4 (2:17) they do that kite fighting thing that they do? Speaker 2 (2:21) Maybe. I don't know. There's heaps of people, man. There's thousands and thousands of people. There's hundreds of kites. There's huge, huge things in the air. There's like a stingrays and sultans and a Vegemite flag. Vegemite. Yeah. Yeah, mate. Yeah, exhilarating, wasn't it? Things you do for your toddler. Yeah. Speaker 4 (2:44) Yeah. Mate, there's a lot worse you could do with a toddler. I bet he loved it. Maybe it's eating it up, isn't it? Yeah, good Speaker 3 (2:50) for you, mate. You all right, Fred? How's things, mate? Yeah, good. Very good. Busy. I always say I'm busy, don't I? But there's particularly a lot going on at the minute. We've got a big event coming up this week, which by the time this podcast goes out, we'll have completed. That was very good. I'll actually be in Copenhagen when this comes out. I'm speaking at a BIM World event there today as this podcast goes out, which is pretty cool. So, yeah, jetting about, flying here and there, launching this, Speaker 4 (3:13) launching that. Speaker 3 (3:14) Racking up 2.3 million views in a week on a video, you know. Speaker 4 (3:18) Unbelievable. Normal activity for you, mate. Well, you're speaking at the London event and then you're flying to Copenhagen. Yes. I'm Speaker 3 (3:26) staying in London Tuesday night, getting to this event on Wednesday morning, 6am, doing that event until midday, then flying to Copenhagen, then doing a dinner thing, then doing a keynote speech the next morning, then flying back again. And then I've got a full day Friday. Oh, I long to be a recluse, really. You know the monks that used to go up in the monasteries? You know, Ace Ventura. Speaker 4 (3:51) The monks, you know the monks? Ace Ventura, yeah, yeah, yeah. Famously, Jim Carrey was a monk. Speaker 3 (4:01) That's what I want. That's what I want. It's been a big week. We launched a new call to action for the B1M, our new global movement, Make Construction Famous, is now live, which is fantastic. I'll stick a link to that down below. Actually, there's a little video I've done about that. But the more exciting news, guys, is that there's merchandise that Speaker 4 (4:17) goes with it. We've launched a new store that Speaker 3 (4:20) goes with it. And there's all sorts of nice things of nice quality. I'm going to hold it up for you here. Look. Speaker 4 (4:24) Oh. We've got a new Make Speaker 3 (4:27) Construction Famous oversized T-shirt. Wow. Mate, the quality is very good. It's a good one for the gym. And look at that. It's got a little, even in there, a little B1M branded logo. Speaker 4 (4:38) That's smart. We've got Speaker 3 (4:39) tote bags, recycled tote bags. These are being given out at the event tomorrow. There's all sorts. If you want to make all the Speaker 4 (4:47) guys jealous, you know, at the gym or at kite shows, get yourself one. Speaker 3 (4:52) You want Speaker 4 (4:52) to be like, oh, that guy there is a Bill and Em fan. Speaker 3 (4:55) It's the global uniform of people that want to change this industry for the better. We are going to do a muscle fest. I think we should do that. We've launched a very lean. Yeah, I think you've got to start lean with the merch. So we've got T-shirts, hoodies, caps, water bottles, notebooks. That's it. No, Shibi, you can order Speaker 2 (5:12) them internationally. You Speaker 3 (5:14) can, mate. You can. Speaker 2 (5:16) Let me know how long it takes to get to Australia. Oh, mate, no. I'll be grabbing a bunch of freebies when I'm in London. I'm not paying the postage, mate. Speaker 3 (5:24) Freebies. He's so entitled, isn't he? I expect there'll be a box Speaker 2 (5:28) waiting for me. Do you have a hoodie? A couple of tees would do me. Speaker 4 (5:32) I heard he would be good. I heard he would be good. I'll second that, actually, Fred, if you could help me out with Speaker 3 (5:37) that. Speaker 4 (5:37) What Speaker 3 (5:37) size do you want, Liam? Because I know you've been skipping cardio lately, mate. Might be an XL by then, buddy. Anyway, guys, we'll stick the link to our new Make Construction famous call to action and movement. down below. Also, down there is going to be a link to the store as well. So do go and have a look. If you fancy some of the early merch, go and have a look now. As I said, in time, bath mats, coasters, doilies, maybe surfboards. Oh, surfboard are good, aren't they? Speaker 4 (6:08) Bodyboards, maybe. We definitely need a gym range. What's a doily? You know what a doily is? No. Speaker 3 (6:14) Yeah. It's like a little, it's like a piece of lace that you would put under a lamp on a lamp table. I mean, circa 1950. Your nan would have always had boys. We're doing them. Speaker 4 (6:25) No, we're not Speaker 3 (6:26) doing them. We Speaker 4 (6:27) should do one Speaker 2 (6:27) of those little bobbleheads, little Fred Mills bobbleheads. Speaker 1 (6:39) A little Speaker 4 (6:39) Funko Pop. Speaker 2 (6:42) You Speaker 3 (6:43) know those would sell. You know those would sell. Hard hat Speaker 2 (6:48) on him. Boom. Speaker 2 (6:51) From the village, Speaker 4 (6:52) people. Don't Speaker 1 (6:57) they Speaker 3 (6:57) have like little tiny legs? Big heads and skinny legs. I don't want to look out of proportion. Speaker 2 (7:02) I mean, mate, Speaker 3 (7:03) I don't know. They had loads Speaker 2 (7:05) of Speaker 3 (7:06) Trump ones in Vegas and my son would go along and just tap all the heads in a row so he'd look down the row Speaker 2 (7:11) of the shop and there's all these Donald Trumps Speaker 3 (7:13) just popping in. You know you're famous when you've had a bobblehead, mate, if you're right. Speaker 4 (7:19) Let's make that happen. Let's make that a priority, mate, for this year. Maybe next year. Forget revenue and profit targets. Forget growth. Speaker 3 (7:27) Forget the audience. Speaker 4 (7:28) Funko Pop HQ. We're coming. Speaker 3 (7:31) New priority. Speaker 4 (7:32) Forget this new maker structure of Amos nonsense. We're going to go for a full-blown bubble head. So you say the initiative. Can you just run us by? Where did the idea come from? What's the purpose behind it, mate? Yeah, Speaker 3 (7:44) so we've always said that we love construction and we want the whole world to love it too. That has been the mission and the strapline of the B1M so far. But I think we've obviously got a really large audience, which is fantastic. But there's also, within that audience, there's a real passionate group of people who really do support the mission, who support what I'm doing, who support the content, who are fanatical about the B1M. And I've seen and felt that all around the world, but particularly in the last year. You know, I tell you guys, I always get stopped at places. But New York and London lately has just been like really intense, like relentless. People are coming up to me saying how much they love the channel, how much it's inspired them to come into construction and stuff. So we wanted to kind of better recognize the community we have, you know, the core community we have that already exists. We want to give them a proper flag to rally around, a proper mission to feel a part of. And that is what Make Construction Famous is all about. It's taking what we already do, but making it clearer, giving it better conviction and giving people some identity because... I really believe that construction needs to have better cultural recognition, needs to be up there with the best and most celebrated things in our society. And that's what this is all about, through, you know, bath mats and doilies every now and then. Speaker 4 (8:59) Absolutely, mate. Absolutely. I mean, we laugh, but I agree with the sentiment completely. It's one of the most important industries in the world. The most, I would argue. We live in a built environment. right like i don't get how you can't take it more seriously there are so many people that don't so absolutely but we need what we need to do Speaker 3 (9:17) mate is make construction famous that's right that's right that's right cta well guys we've got a little banger of an episode coming out for you today first off we're heading over to taiwan a country that's just built the world's most beautiful bridge and then also the news we're swinging over to philadelphia to cover their new hockey and basketball arena and eclectic chats coming your way on today's podcast as ever the whole episode is going to be sprinkled with plenty of digressions humor some of your messages and comments from the past week let's do it let's get cracking let's go Speaker 3 (10:01) So first of this week, we're heading over to Taiwan, which has just completed what we believe is the world's most beautiful bridge. We call it the world's most beautiful bridge in this new YouTube video. It came out last week, got over 2.3 million views in less than a week. There's been a lot of love for this video. This is called the new Danjiang Bridge. It stretches for 920 meters across the Tamsoi Estuary. At this point, I want to apologize to any of our listeners in Taiwan for butchering. the names i think i'm getting this right but please send in your corrections if i'm getting it wrong uh the new danjang bridge stretches for 920 meters as i said it carries road pedestrians and cyclists across the tamasoy estuary but it's been engineered to carry a future expansion of the city's danhai light rail network so they've built in capacity here to carry trains alongside the cars and the people and the bikes it's very modern up-to-date bridge. It all came about, as bridges tend to do, because of geography. So the mouth of the Tamsoi River, which is where the Tamsoi Estuary begins, basically sits on the edge of Taipei, which is the capital of Taiwan. On one side of the river is Bali, which is an industrial zone housing probably one of the busiest container terminals in the whole of Taiwan. And on the other side is Tamsoy, which is a historic district, beloved beauty spot. It's a rapidly growing commuter town. Population there has doubled in just under 30 years. At the minute, it's a very long trek around the bay to get to the other side. You've got to go all the way down into the bay, across another bridge, an older bridge, and then back up the other side to get between these two places. And there are people that live in one place, work