The Constructive View
The Constructive View by Bozhidar Yanev is the second, greatly expanded edition of his comprehensive book Constructive View (2018).
The book offers readers what the cover promises: original photographs of beloved structures, some well-known, others less so, from unusual angles, accessible only to professionals, accompanied by anecdotes related to the author's nearly 50-year career as chief inspector of bridges in New York City, professor at Columbia University, and others around the world.
The text is grouped into 46 episodes. Readers have the choice to focus on the narrative, share what the camera has captured, look for the connection between them, and compare them with their own impressions. And finally, to answer the question: Why is the cover of the book the only self-portrait chosen by the author?
Bozhidar Yanev
Bojidar Yanev was born in Sofia in 1947. He earned a degree in Structural Civil Engineering from the University for Architecture, Engineering and Geodesy in 1970. A violinist for 10 years with the Children’s Philharmonic Orchestra under Prof. V. Simeonov, Yanev later earned his PhD in Civil Engineering from Columbia University in 1976.
After doing research at UC Berkeley’s Earthquake Engineering Research Center, he spent the 1980s in civil engineering consulting in New York and became licensed in New York and California. In 1989 he joined the NYC Department of Transportation, where he founded and leads the Bridge Inspection and Management Unit.
Yanev has taught bridge design and management at Columbia and Brooklyn Polytechnic and lectured internationally, including in Japan, China, France, and the UK. His book Bridge Management (Wiley, 2007) was translated into Japanese and Chinese. Honors include ASCE Administrative Civil Engineer of the Year (1994), ABCD Engineer of the Year (1995), and an Honorary Doctorate from his alma mater (2008).
An avid photographer, Yanev sees bridges as metaphors for human thought—structures linking aesthetics and information, form and content, and the professional with the imaginative.
