Toronto Star

After centuries of thrusting themselves forward when erecting their buildings, architects are finally starting to show their feminine side. Sure, size still matters to those men with their edifice complexes, but now it's safe to be softer and armer. They're more open, shall we say. More receptive. Just a few days ago in Paris, the French capital's first bridge named for a woman was opened to connect the Seine's left and right banks at one of the river's widest points. Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir, as it's called, is all curves and undulations. It is an odalisque, the reclining nude of bridges, languid yet alert, aware of her beauty but brilliant and unabashed.