On Monday I hopped on an early train to Geneva to meet with Eve Edelstein. Eve is an Adjunct Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine and a board member of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA). Eve and I had met in San Francisco at our Encoding Experience event there, and she had kindly reached out to let me know she'd be passing by my general vicinity on her trip to Europe.
We met at the Cottage Café and over a couple of cappuccinos (cappuccini?) we had a really interesting discussion about the human experience of architecture, with a particular focus on the physiological nature of perception.
Before heading to my train we decided to go for a walk around the lake towards the famous jet d'eau.
On the way there we crossed the Pont du Mont-Blanc and didn't think anything of it, apart from the Women's Euro flags that reminded me Italy would be playing Portugal that evening in Geneva (a big match, no doubt, given the significant Italian and Portuguese populations in Switzerland).
After wandering a bit and checking out the Fontaine des Quatre Saisons...
… we headed back across the bridge, which is when things started to get strange. The pedestrian walkway across the side of the bridge was moving. A lot. It seemed to be oscillating completely independently from the main bridge, whether because of the wind or the movement of people. Both Eve and I started to feel a bit queasy - I headed to the train station to head homewards, while Eve stayed for some more time in Geneva.
I continued to feel nauseous until I went to bed that night, which is really strange for me: I don't get sea-sick or suffer from any kind of motion sickness… I admit to getting the odd bit of VR sickness, but it always passes quickly. Even thinking about the walk across the bridge - 2 days later - I have some residual nausea kicking in. So bizarre!
I looked into things, and found a great site that included this image of the underside of the bridge, showing the addition of the cantilevered walkway.
Photo © Nicolas Janberg.
If you're a civil or structural engineer and can explain a bit more about this phenomenon, I'd really appreciate understanding it better. I've been on bridges that vibrate or oscillate before - I've spent a lot of time on the MX3D bridge, for instance! - but I've never had an experience like this one.
I've still very glad I had the chance to meet with Eve - I have no regrets on that front - and I'm sure my brain will have recovered before too long. Thanks for taking the time to meet with me and for the fascinating discussion, Eve!
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