![]() ![]() This combination of continuous growth and maintenance leads to a high level of complexity in each bridge, making simple mechanical analysis unfeasible. The addition of handrails, a second deck, underpinning struts, or other features can further influence the bridge’s structural system. Alternatively, the initial root(s) used in the bridge can be allowed to grow unaffected and dominate the structure. Through the close intertwining of roots, inosculations can be initiated to form a densely interwoven framework-like structure. Generations of builders contribute over decades or centuries to bridge structures, rarely with a clear or consistent plan. They then shorten, start to thicken and produce daughter roots, which are trained (wound and directed) similarly. When they reach the opposite bank, the roots are implanted. This anthropogenic process takes roots that generally hang vertically down and uses them horizontally to cross the river. After reaching an adult stage, aerial roots (referred to herein also as ‘roots’, unless specified as ‘subterranean’) emerge from the branches and are wound onto and directed across a deadwood framework (mainly bamboo). elastica cutting is planted on one bank of a canyon or river. With regards to Ficus species in general, Shanahan offers a summary of their worldwide cultural significance 10.Ĭommonly, a F. Many media platforms have covered the LRBs and the communities that build them, ranging from blogs 5 to TV documentaries 6, 7 and books 8, 9. and Shankar describe the societal setting of the bridges and their construction methods 1, 2, 3. Until recently it was thought that only a handful of such bridges existed 1, and investigations into their structure, distribution and morphology are accordingly limited. While there is quite a number of examples of living architecture worldwide, LRBs provide the only known example of repeated, predictable use of tree growth for structural purposes (see Ludwig’s, 2012 historical introduction 4). elastica to form bridges is a unique example of botanical architecture grown without the tools of modern engineering design. The technique of using aerial roots of F. elastica and possible applications in living architecture (Baubotanik). ![]() The results are discussed from an interdisciplinary perspective, considering the adaptive traits in the natural life cycle of F. Horizontally and vertically trained roots differ significantly in shape and cross-sectional area when approximately even-aged roots are compared. Some bridges are several hundreds of years old. They cover an altitude range of 57–1211 m a.m.s.l. elastica may be native or traditionally cultivated. LRBs are found to occur mainly in the mountainous limestone rainforests where F. Root morphology was characterised by measurements of cross-sectional area and shape-related parameters and analysed in relation to the orientation of the roots. An extensive inventory of LRBs in Meghalaya including data of location, altitude, approximate age and bridge length was performed in field studies. Locals use these aerial roots to build living bridges, which strengthen themselves over time due to adaptive secondary growth and their capacity to form a mechanically stable structure via inosculations. Here we report on a pilot study of the Living Root Bridges (LRBs) in the Indian State Meghalaya, which are grown with aerial roots of Ficus elastica, a facultative hemiepiphyte developing abundant aerial roots. ![]()
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