Renzo Piano Building Workshop has created the project of the new bridge on the Polcevera replacing the collapsed Morandi viaduct. Deeply affected by the tragedy which claimed the lives of 43 people in 2018, the IAA Academician has donated a replacement design to his city.
“My commitment is above all moral, to make sure that the new bridge has the traits of Genoa, of our qualities and a little of parsimony. I can’t think of anything else but that bridge.”, said Piano.
Now that the final piece of the new bridge decking has been put in place, it will no longer carry the name “Morandi”, the architect who worked on the original reinforced concrete structure.
Inspired by the city’s historic maritime prominence, the new scheme incorporates weight-bearing columns reminiscent of a ship’s bow. In honour of the victims, 43 lamps will cast a light across the bridge, shaped like ship sails.
Normally, building of a bridge takes three of four years, but this one took one year. Piano explained that the builders had started making the horizontal spans at the same time as they were building the foundations and they have also worked in three shifts, round-the-clock.
Siro Dal Zotto, project director for the construction company Fincantieri, said that the bridge should be seen as “a symbol of how one can emerge from a terrible situation”.
The construction work of the bridge hasn’t stopped even during the darkest days of the coronavirus crisis with 1000 workers. Construction teams had to follow strict health protocols, wearing masks, eating in canteens in staggered shifts and maintaining social distancing.
“I hope it will be a symbol of hope for people. Italy is capable of miracles. The sad thing is, to make those miracles you often need a tragedy or an emergency first.”, told Renzo Piano The Telegraph.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/26/completion-new-genoa-bridge-gives-italy-much-needed-injection/
https://www.archdaily.com/938641/final-deck-of-renzo-pianos-genoa-bridge-completes-in-italy