Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport, Oregon

As inspiration for this month's architectural detail project, here are a few photos of the Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport, Oregon.

I pulled over to the side of the road in a precarious spot only to learn upon leaving that there was a safer (and official) place to pull over about 50 feet away. Oops. The stepped sides of the pillars screamed Art Deco to me, probably because I had just spent two weeks in Paris studying archives related to the origins of Art Deco for part of a chapter in my book project.

The view from underneath the bridge makes me think of what historian David E. Nye calls the "technological sublime." The arches and the beam of light coming from the upper right of the photo mimic the view from inside a cathedral, except that in place of stained glass we can look out to admire the complex geometry of steel.

This final photo is a detail of the staircase leading to the main road and the top side of the bridge. I was tempted to use Photoshop to clean up the signs of graffiti tags at the bottom, but decided against it.

Be sure to check out what other people have been posting this month, and add your own if you can.