Connections: The Bridges of Gates Hillman
Pittsburgh is the city of Bridges with 446 of them, apparently more than Venice. This is historically due to the terrain and many rivers. The bridges have always been both practical but also symbolic of the city. Although we do not have a river through our campus, our terrain is no exception.
The Gates Hillman Centers have six bridges (not counted in the 446), all pedestrian. These Bridges serve both as practical access but also important symbolic connections among units. Here I briefly describe each one.
The Pausch Memorial Footbridge: This 230′ long bridge connects the Purnell Center for the Arts with the Gates Center crossing 35′ above the lawn below. The Purnell Center houses the Drama department so in addition to be an extremely useful connection from the cut to the Gates Hillman Centers, it represents the connection between two very strong and diverse Schools within the university, a connection strengthened by Randy Pausch and the formation of the
Entertainment Technology Center.
The NSH/GHC bridge: This 110′ long closed bridge crosses from the Helix in the Gates Center to the Atrium in Newell Simon Hall (NSH). It connects two parts of the School of Computer Science. During the planning process we asked in a survey what the most important feature of NSH was. The overwhelming response was the existing bridge from NSH to Wean, connecting our previous spaces.
The Gates Hillman Bridges: This closed connection attaches the Gates Center to the Hillman Center at all levels of the Hillman Center. It supplies views out over the winter garden and to the West Quad on one side and towards Purnell on the other. The bridges connect the undergraduate classrooms in the Gates Center with Research Labs in the Hillman Center
The Rain Garden Bridge: This short bridge in the landscaping goes over a rain garden, a green planted area for capturing water runoff from the site. It is located between the Gates and Hillman Centers and is part of a path that leads from the main entry of the Gates Center on the West Quad (level 3) to Forbes Avenue.
Gates Upper Atrium Bridge: These bridges crossing at two floors connect the two sides of the Gates Center upper atrium. From the Bridge one can look North over the winter garden, and over the top of the Hillman Center to Bloomfield. The bridge connects space belonging to the Machine Learning Department with the Computer Science Department.
The Helix: The Helix forms the heart of the building connecting levels 3, 4 and 5 and the five main entrances of the building. It also connects all the classrooms in the building, the Dean’s suite, the “Cafe cluster”, and the undergraduate conference room. It, along with the Pausch Bridge, is part of the main connection from the East Campus to the West Campus and the connection from Forbes Avenue to Newell Simon and Wean Halls.