Firm： Polyhedral Structures Laboratory

Type： Cultural › Sculpture Memorial Transport + Infrastructure › Bridge

STATUS： Built

YEAR： 2024

SIZE： 1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

BUDGET： $500K - 1M

Description

The act of crossing a bridge embodies the metaphorical journey of overcoming differences. It requires courage, openness, and a willingness to venture into the unknown. Each step across its span symbolizes reaching outward, forming connections, and committing to relationships. Whether in personal interactions, diplomacy, or societal reconciliation, bridges remain powerful symbols of dialogue, trust, and renewal.

Vitrum Leve, or Lightweight Glass Bridge, is a high-performance transparent structure conceived as the Penn Monument for Hope. Metaphorically, its transparency represents the essential values of honesty and peace within our community. Although each individual sheet of glass is inherently brittle, when assembled through a carefully designed geometry, these elements create a strong thrust system capable of efficiently transferring substantial forces to the ground. The bridge’s resilience emerges from the geometry of the arch, symbolically spanning gaps and disagreements between differing perspectives.

Research

This structure is the result of four years of inter-institutional research and represents the cutting edge of design innovation at the Weitzman School of Design. Constructed from ultra-thin glass sheets (16 mm), it forms a high-performance multilayered sandwich system. Its design employs geometry-based structural methods rooted in Polyhedral Graphic Statics, enabling the creation of funicular forms with multilayer geometries and minimized mass. These methods have been researched and advanced at the Polyhedral Structures Laboratory of the Weitzman School of Design since 2017.

The project’s primary objective is to demonstrate how challenging materials such as glass can be meticulously engineered to serve as primary structural systems. It also reveals how the internal flow of forces can be fully contained within a 1.6 cm cross-section, resulting in an ultra-transparent structural solution for architecture. By reducing material mass, the project contributes to lowering the embodied carbon of the built environment while opening pathways toward cleaner construction methods for the future.

The project seeks to inspire architects, engineers, and researchers to challenge conventional design and detailing practices, exploring strategies that minimize material use while maximizing structural performance and recyclability. It also advances the potential of thin-sheet-based construction for lightweight, efficient buildings and infrastructure.

By merging art, science, and engineering, the project makes this knowledge accessible to the public through a monument dedicated to hope.

This conceptual bridge challenges the perceived limitations of glass construction. Through the precise positioning and alignment of its components, the span is made possible. Much like society itself, the path to overcoming obstacles depends on individuals working in unison to create positivity, hope, and care for one another.

Credits

Principal Investigators: Dr. Masoud Akbarzadeh (University of Pennsylvania), Dr. Joseph Robert Yost (Villanova University), Dr. Damon Bolhassani (City University of New York), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Schneider (TU Wien, Glass Competence Center, TU Darmstadt)

Advising Collaborator: Richard Farley (University of Pennsylvania)

Project Lead Designer: Dr. Masoud Akbarzadeh

Structural Design: Dr. Masoud Akbarzadeh, Dr. Yao Lu, Yiliang Shao, Tian Ouyang

Computational Design Lead: Dr. Yao Lu

Steel Support Detailing and Formwork Design: Boyu Xiao, Michael Ting, Pouria Vakhshouri

Structural Engineering: Dr. Damon Bolhassani, Dr. Paria Yavartanoo

Structural Load Testing and Material Verification: Dr. Joseph Robert Yost, Jorge Huisa Chacon, and Mathew Cregan

Glass Engineering: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Schneider, Philipp Amir Chhadeh

Early-Stage Research Team: Dr. Andrei Nejur, Tian Ouyang, Dr. Mostafa Akbari, Zhenhao Zhou, Cory Byrnes, Dr. Ulrich Knaack, Chris Borg Costanzi

Project Date

2018–2024

Construction Credits

Acrylic Milling Services: Werk5 GmbH

Acrylic Materials: Polyvantis GmbH

Hollow Glass Unit Construction: Glasbau Pritz GmbH

Glass Milling Services: Thiele Glas Werk GmbH

Low-Carbon Glass: ORAÉ® by Saint-Gobain Glass

Acrylic Extrusion: Hubei Chusui Plastic Extrusion Mold Factory

SentryGlas: Kuraray

Plywood Machining: Timbur

Steel Construction: Kuan-Ting Lai

Fabrication Consultant: Ali Seyedahmadian

Purchasing / Logistics Coordination: Jennifer Thuman

Business Administrator: Nadine Beauhanois

Installation Team: Masoud Akbarzadeh, Boyu Xiao, Michael Ting, Yao Lu, Amir Motavaselian, Yefan Zhi, Teng Teng, Joseph Yost, Philipp Amir Chhadeh, Golnaz Moharrer, Esmaeel Negarestan, Hengameh Fazeli, and Alireza Fazeli

Project Acknowledgment

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our generous donor, Lori Kanter Tritsch, whose invaluable support and commitment made the construction of this project possible. Her contributions helped bring our shared vision to life and will create a lasting impact for generations to come.

We also gratefully acknowledge the kind gift of Albert Kalimian, whose support provided the project’s Publication Fund.