Does the Millennium of Ourense deserve a distinction for mediocre? - Ourense, Galicia, España
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Ariberna
N 42° 20.739 W 007° 52.451
29T E 592731 N 4688768
The jury of an award promoted in the United Kingdom has no mercy: "It is tormenting"
Waymark Code: WM133TK
Location: Galicia, Spain
Date Posted: 09/09/2020
Views: 1
The Millennium Bridge in Ourense recently crossed borders to win a peculiar prize. It is about the Bampot, something like a contest to designate the most mediocre and terrible infrastructure. The initiative stems from a UK blog for professionals that specializes in bridges and their designs.As a result of an initial vote of the blog's readers, a total of 22 infrastructures were selected, including Ourense. Subsequently, a panel of experts made a bigger screen to choose the five finalists, who were the ones who were put to the examination of the readers of the Internet page: the Exeter footbridge (United Kingdom), the Cumberland river bridge in Nashville (United States), the Lucky Knot Bridge (China), the Seabraes Footbridge, in Dundee (United Kingdom) and the Ourense Millennium. There were a total of 63 engineers who participated in the vote and most of them opted for the option that was built at the beginning of the century on the banks of the Miño River. Specifically, the Millennium Bridge won 41.1% of the votes.
The jury was not restrained in its criticism of the seagull-shaped infrastructure designed by Álvaro Varela de Ugarte. One of the main buts is its context. That is to say, they have opted for a modernist installation with a Roman bridge right next to it. "It has a complete lack of respect for the valuable collection of historic bridges in the city and a depth of deck that makes any other structural assistance unnecessary."Another of the members of the jury known as Bampot, points out: "It is penetrating, unbearable, agonizing, distressing, tortuous, tormented ...". The person in charge of the specialized blog ends his entry on the awards that seek the most mediocre bridge pointing out that it is a deserved award for being an infrastructure that he qualifies as horrible. “Its biggest offense is its ungainly combination of multiple geometries, none of them designed in their own right. The catwalk trick gives the initial impression of a suspension bridge, but instead is the murderous garrison that dominates everything else. It also shows your interest in visiting it and draws attention to the fact that it is included as a tourist attraction in the Ourense Tourist Office. As there are colors for tastes -beyond the technical criteria on the installation- the moderator himself invites to make evaluations to the jury's decision in the entry on these peculiar awards at (
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