Hydraulic Attractions and Landmarks around the World

Our next landmark can be found across the Atlantic Ocean on the shore of Lake Michigan, one of the World’s largest lakes. The Milwaukee Art Museum was designed by Spanish architect, Santiago Calarava and was completed in 2001. It has since become an icon of the city’s waterfront.

What makes the Milwaukee Art Museum stand out is its 72 steel fins that combine to form two wing-like sunscreens and give the museum a majestic 217-foot wingspan.

This impressive 90 ton (81.6 metric tonne) structure doesn’t simply sit open however…

Through the use of 22 hydraulic cylinders (11 on each side) the museum’s sunshield “wings” can be spread open or retracted closed in just 3.5 minutes. The structure also boasts an important safety feature – being fitted with wind sensors that automatically retract the wings when winds exceed 23mph!

The Milwaukee Art Museum’s unique wings and location on the water bank of Lake Michigan have made it one of the city’s most recognisable landmarks.

Slauerhoffbrug, otherwise known as the “Flying Drawbridge” is located in the city of Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. It is the first of three landmark bridges on our list that use hydraulic designs to create unique and eye-catching structures that can also be manoeuvred to allow river traffic to pass below.

When closed, Slauerhoffbrug has two large arms on a swing hinge. These are connected to the road at an unusual, diagonal angle. On the other side of the hinge is a large counterweight.

When the bridge needs to be raised, two large hydraulic cylinders extend (one on each arm) and with the help of a counterweight on the other side of the hinge, the arms hoist a 15m x 15m square of road an impressive 45m straight up into the air! 

The underside of this huge mass of road is painted blue and yellow to represent the colours of Leeuwarden’s flag.

It provides an unmissable spectacle floating above trees and buildings from afar when raised. 

You may have read about the Anderton Boat lift in our article on hydraulic landmarks and attractions in the UK. This late 19th century hydraulic design connects the River Weaver to the Trent-Mersey Canal. It  uses two connected hydraulic cylinders to lift water-filled tubs, known as caissons, to transport boats 15.2m (50 feet) vertically between the two waterways. However, if you don’t live locally to this Victorian marvel of engineering, there are other designs of this kind around the world.

Peterborough Lift Lock, in Ontario, Canada, for example, sits on the Trent-Severn waterway. Being situated on another waterway named Trent is far from where the similarities end, however. The lift lock was first built in 1904, 29 years later than the Anderton Lift. Despite being 4.6m taller than the Anderton Boat Lift, the Peterborough Lift Lock uses a similar design involving two connected hydraulic cylinders with a diameter of 2.3m. 

Even though the caissons weigh more than 1500 metric tonnes each, no power is required to lift them. The raised caisson stops one foot below the water level of the connecting waterway, and when the caisson is opened, water from the canal rushes in making it heavier than the lower caisson on the other cylinder. All that is then required is a valve to be opened to allow the weight of the raised caisson to force fluid from the extended cylinder to the retracted one it as it lowers, straight into the cylinder below the other caisson.