The Humber Bridge has a very tall, long and linear appearance. This is due to the nature of its function. Being a bridge that is 2220 meters long creates its proportions. Also, the bridge’s need to support itself leads to its height of 155.5 meters. The functional requirement to span the Humber leads to its proportions, using large architectural elements, such as the enormous towers and vast length of the bridge. The way in which the bridge spans the river using the suspension bridging technique creates its length and height and therefore the structure’s proportions. The width is also determined by the bridge’s functional requirements, needing to deliver four lanes of traffic over from each bank of the Humber Estuary.
The bridge, due to its proportions, does not fit the idea of the golden ratio in a strict sense. However, it does fit to the golden triangle, an aesthetically pleasing view used in photography to create an image that looks pleasing to the eye. The Humber Bridge, if viewed from the ground, fits perfectly to the idea of the golden triangle, meaning it looks aesthetically pleasing and not unusually large or out of proportion or scale. The Humber bridge doesn’t correspond with any of the classical orders due to it being a modern concrete structure, however it does use columns, a commonly used feature of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders, in the same way the classical orders used columns, for strength, as the columns of the Humber bridge are used to support the cables which suspend the bridge deck below.
The size of the Humber Bridge, even though highly daunting, does conform with ideas of the size a suspension bridge should be, creating a sense of wonderment but not feelings of shock or unease, as typically suspension bridges are very large and therefore it adheres to the stereotypical size of similar suspension bridges such as the Californian Golden Gate Bridge and the Forth Road Suspension Bridge in Scotland.
The form of the bridge relates to the same mathematical geometry as washing lines holding washing or a bird sat on a telephone wire, although on a much larger scale. The height of the bridge’s columns acts like the poles of the washing line while the anchorage of the bridge holds the cables down at either side with the towers pulling the cables up creating tension in a triangular and, therefore, strong form, from which the bridge deck can be hung, much like washing can be hung on a line without the line collapsing under the weight.
The texture and colours of the bridge itself are determined again by function and materials used in the bridge. The concrete structure creates a grey colour to the entire bridge, which unlike the Golden 
Gate Bridge’s 
distinctive orange colour used to protect its steel construction, the grey colour Humber bridge in a way blends into the greyness of the river in an almost understated fashion. However, at night the lights on the roadway and the aircraft warning lights on top of the towers create a whole different sense of colour to the bridge, with the lights reflecting in the water giving the bridge a more vibrant look compared to how it looks during the day.
11022750 BE1380- Humber Bridge 