bridge

The goal of the The Bering Strait Project’s International Ideas Competition this summer was to design a bridge or tunnel to connect Alaska to Russia. The purpose of the whole experiment? To bring different cultures together and to increase access to natural resources (Drill, baby, drill?).

The results, despite the seemingly outdated detente-ish rationale, were pretty fantastic.

It was like falling in love," says Norwegian artist Vebjorn Sand. "I just couldn't get it out of my mind." Six years ago, while visiting an exhibit of the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Sand became captivated by a model of a bridge that, in 1502, da Vinci had proposed building for Sultan Bajazet II, ruler of the Ottoman Empire. The Sultan wished to span the Golden Horn, an inlet between the Turkish cities of Pera and Constantinople (known today as Istanbul). At that time, it would have been one of the world's largest bridges.