The role of bridges in the city landscape - Practice Exam

C1 Advanced · Cross Text Multiple Matching · Advanced Expert Student's Resource Book, Pearson Education

You are going to read four reviews of an exhibition on the subject of bridges. For questions 1–4, choose from the reviews A-D. The reviews may be chosen more than once.

A Anita McKay

This exhibition is much more than a collection of images of bridges: it asks enduring and relevant questions about the purpose of these structures and highlights their central role in defining the cities which they grace. As you make your way through the gallery, you're confronted with unexpected and surprising juxtapositions. Atmospheric photos appear next to precise scale drawings of the same bridge. What's more, you're not just visually challenged but also forced to consider familiar structures in a new light as you undertake this fascinating journey. For me, the absence of any sense of chronological or geographical progression in the exhibits was liberating. Instead of being led to see similarities between bridges or trace lines of development in bridge design, you're encouraged to marvel at their great diversity and individuality. In terms of the range of bridges depicted, the exhibition is an unapologetically eclectic selection that makes no attempt at coverage of styles or regions. It is all the better for it.

B Brian Makepeace

This exhibition is devoted to bridges of different types and deftly illustrates the significance of these structures to the image of a city, brilliantly capturing the vitality of the river as an urban artery. The inclusion of a mixture of both familiar and less familiar bridges helps to hold your interest as you make your way round. But anyone hoping to come away with a potted history of the bridge from an architectural or engineering perspective will be disappointed. The ancient and modern pop up next to each other in a seemingly random fashion, as do structures from the four corners of the globe. But this is a strength rather than a weakness because, to its great credit, this exhibition makes you look at bridges from an aesthetic viewpoint. This is ultimately much more engaging than either the technical or the historical perspective that could so easily have been laboured here.

C Chloe Forbes

For centuries, bridges have been a marker for urban ambition. Cities around the world commissioned architects to create distinctive bridges to act as icons. This delightful exhibition showcases some of these structures, though, sadly, some of the most iconic have been overlooked in favour of somewhat undistinguished alternatives. There is little here, however, to make you ponder the deeper social significance of bridges, nor are we shown how central the bridges are to their respective city's image of itself. Instead, we're treated to a feast of stunning visual images that excites the senses in all sorts of unexpected ways. Fortunately, the exhibits aren't arranged in date order, nor do we have rooms devoted to specific locations or cultures, so we're spared any discussion of the technical background. This is an exhibition that appeals to the eyes rather than the intellect.

D David Braintree

Architects regard bridges as more than the functional means to an end. Because it tames nature, a bridge can have an aura of power and majesty, and people marvel at the technical achievement. Despite being a rather random collection of visual images, this exhibition captures that aura surprisingly well and makes you reflect on how well functionality and beauty can be combined. Having said that, I didn't come away with any new insights into either bridge building or indeed what bridges do for cities, which is supposedly the focus of the event. Indeed, as we moved from one era to another and one style to another without any sense of progression, I found my attention wandering for want of a coherent thread to latch on to. What's more, some of the world's most interesting examples of urban bridge design didn't get a look in, which was a shame, whilst some far from iconic structures were given centre stage.

has a different view to McKay concerning how effective the order and positioning of the exhibits is?

shares Makepeace's opinion of how well the exhibition shows the importance of urban bridges?

has a similar view to Forbes regarding the choice of bridges which appears in the exhibition?

has a different opinion to the others about how thought-provoking the exhibition is?

The role of bridges in the city landscape: an exhibition of drawings, paintings and photos

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