Nature Walk Pedestrian Bridge

Hello, I am a senior from Greencastle-Antrim High School in Greencastle, PA. I first came up with this idea for the bridge when the bridge design contest was first announced, but I decided against modeling it because of how busy I was at the time. Then when summer rolled around, I had more time and I decided to give this design a shot. I will say though that this took me many hours and I was worried that I would not finish in time, but with the extended due date I was able to push through and finish it just in time to submit. The concept for this bridge is that it will go over a pond and make travel across much easier. The pond would be in an environment similar to a forest and would have a lot of nature present. I added trees and flower boxes on the bridge to add an even bigger diversity of nature. The idea is that this bridge would allow people to take a break from reality, and just really embrace the nature around them. All the flower boxes would be filled with many different species of plants so that you can walk around and get almost a "plant tour", and the trees would be planted and when people come back, they can see how much the trees and plants have grown. I also added three connected gazebo areas to add more room for plants and more connections across the pond. I included stairs for quick and physical access, and ramps for wheelchairs or anyone who would be unable to easily get up the stairs. There are also bench placed all around the bridge so that people can sit down and really embrace the nature around them. There is a fountain in the center of each gazebo, and watering cans by the benches, so that pedestrians can get water from the fountains to water the plants, and really feel that they are contributing. The water in the fountains would mainly be rainwater cycled through, but if it wasn't raining enough another source could be used. I think over all the design for this bridge turned out very nice, and I am very proud of it.

Fusion 360

A Device to Model On

I have always thought that it was a lot of fun to walk through greenhouses and just look at the wide variety of plants. So, I thought that it would be cool to incorporate this into a bridge, so that when you cross the bridge you get to see the beauty of nature. Then I scoured the internet to find similar bridge designs and I used those to figure how I wanted to make my bridge.

After coming up with the idea of the bridge I put it to paper. I sketched out what I wanted the bridge to look like and what I wanted to be included in the bridge. You'll see throughout the design I ended up removing the roofing on the bridge because I liked the open look better. I also ended up making other small changes to the design which you will see throughout the instructions.

The floor of the bridge is made up of wooden planks with dimensions of 10ft, which I later changed to 8ft, by 0.5ft with a depth of 0.04ft, which I later changed to 0.25ft. The entire span of the bridge is 100ft so there are 200 planks total.

I started by copy and pasting a portion of the bridge I already made to be perpendicular to the bridge to make three connecting pathways. Then I sketch an octagonal shape over one of the and drew line connecting the planks to the edge of the octagon. The I extruded to make the planks form the octagon shape, and I added a border. Then I copy and pasted this to the other two pathways.

To make the stairs I sketched the basic stair design and added a line below to hold the boards of the stairs. Then I extruded three of these. The I sketched the boards of the stairs and extruded them which had dimensions of 4.5ft by 1ft with a depth of 0.25ft. I extruded them to land on the three pieces I previously extruded.

To make the ramp I sketched a diagonal rectangle to hold planks similar to the stairs. The I extruded this to make two supports for the planks of the ramp. The I sketched rectangles for each plank and extruded them. The have dimensions of 4.5ft by 0.5ft by 0.25ft. Then I added two triangular prisms to make the ramps easily connect to the floor.

I started by making seven poles on each side of the ramp. Then I made two planks in between each one to connect them.

After completing the entrances to the bridge, I copy and pasted the stairs and ramp to each end of the pathway to make five total entrances. This will allow the pedestrians to easily cross to any area around the pond.

I started by creating three long rectangular planks below the bridge. Then I made various poles below each of the three planks to hold up the bridge.

I added two planks across the poles on the edge of the bridge. I then extruded these planks so that they would be on opposite sides on the poles. I added these to each set of three poles. The I sketched two planks that would cross in a "x" shape. The I extruded them to be on opposite sides and to connect each of the set of three poles. I made these on each of three poles. I based this entire support design off of the first image in the previous step.

I used the same steps that was used for the supports under the long walkway of the bridge for the gazebos. Though, I used 4 rows instead of three and I adjusted it to fit the octagonal shape.

For this I decided to add these small squares in between each of the gazebos and the main walkway. This would be a spot to put small trees to add to the overall effect of the bridge. I sketched the squares and then just extended the planks of the gazebo to fit this shape. I also changed the border of the gazebos to fit this shape. Then I added more poles as supports to hold these extensions up.

I used the same steps that I used to make the fencing on the ramp to add fencing to the entire border around the bridge. Except to save time instead of sketching all of the individual horizontal planks I just made two and then copy and pasted them around editing it to fit between each of the vertical planks.

To make this I started by making the pot. I sketched one half of the pot and then revolved it around. Then I sketched a circle and extruded it down with a taper to cut into the pot. Then I extruded the circle again with the same taper and took some off the top to make the soil. The In made a cylinder to make the trunk of the tree. Then I sketched one half of the tree leaves and revolved it to finish the tree. I also had to scale the tree down so that it would fit properly on the bridge. Finally, I copy and pasted the tree around to each of the squares previously made on the bridge.

This bench design is based off the first picture listed in the step. I started by sketch the edge of the bench and the extruding it twice to make the two ends of the bench. The I added filets to the edges. The I made one plank across the bench and copy and pasted it to make planks all along the curve of the edges. I also added the alternating colors to the planks on the bench to make it more original. I then scaled it to the right size, and copy and pasted it so that there were two benches in each gazebo and one bench across from the opening of each gazebo.

For this I just made a bottom board and then three walls on top of it so that it connected to the outside of the fencing. Then I copy and pasted it all around the outside of the fencing.

I started by copying the pot from the tree and making three of them side by side. Then in made 3 small tall cylinders on one of the pots. This would be for the stems of three flowers. The I made a leaf and copy and pasted it to each of the stems. Then I made the head of the flower and copy and pasted it to each stem. Then I added fun colors to each of the flower heads.

I began by making a cylinder for the base of the cactus and adding a sphere on top to make it rounded. Then I sketched lines in the direction I wanted the arms to be. Then I sketched a circle where the arm would begin and used a sweep to make both the arms. The I added spheres to the top of both arms to make them rounded as well.

This plant was the hardest to make and I went through trial and error to get to the end result. I started by sketching small circles in the center of the pot for the beginning of each stem. The I sketched lines where I wanted each stem to go and lined them up with the circles. Then I used a sweep for each of the stems. Then I copy and pasted the leaf that I had previously made to the end of each stem. I then used a loft to connect each leaf to its stem. Then I added some more leaves in the middles of the stems. Now that all the flowerpots were done, I copy and pasted them into each of the flower boxes.

I based this fountain off of the first picture in the step. To begin I made a sketch of half of the fountain, then I revolved it around. Then I cut into the top two bowls with these "U" cuts so that water would be able to flow down the fountain. Then I copy and pasted it into the center of each gazebo.

I based the watering can off of the first picture in the step. I began by extruding a short circle for the bottom of the can. Then I extruded the walls of the can up. Then I made the ceiling of the can, making sure that there was an opening where the water could be entered. The I made a sketch of where I wanted the handle to go, and a circle of where I wanted the handle to begin. The I used a sweep to make the handle. After that I sketched a line of where I wanted the spout to go, and a circle of where I wanted the spout to begin. The I used a sweep to make the spout of the can. Then I extruded a cut through the spout of the can so that the water could go through and out of the can. Then I copy and pasted the cans next to each of the benches in the gazebos and added different colors to each one of them.

I started by sketching a square around the entire bridge and a spline in the shape I wanted the pond to be. Then I extruded the pond shape down, and then the area around the pond down as a separate body. The I extruded the entire square down to make the floor of the pond. Then I added filets around the edge of the square, and to the bottom and top edge of the pond.

This is how the model turned out. I think it looks pretty nice, obviously it's not perfect because of all the copy and pasting, and I eyeballed some things when lining them up. But this is just a model and is not meant to be actually printed.

This is a final way to get some nice, finished pictures of the design. You just need to click on design and then go to render, and then you set your scene setting to whatever you please. And finally, you click render and wait for it to load.

Overall, I think this model and design turned out very well. If I had more time I would add more plants to the design, for example vines around the fencing. Another thing to fix would be all the plank locations. When I was making this, I didn't focus too much on making sure that everything was perfectly lined up I just tried to make sure that the overall look of the bridge looked good. Another mistake I made while designing was not making components for all the parts. This then led to there being a ton of bodies and made it very difficult to toggle the view of certain sections. But in the end the design looked very nice, and I would say that this project was a big success.