Special envoy to Genoa (Italy)
From a distance, this new San Gorgio bridge is a white link between the two banks of the Polcevera valley, giving this unsightly industrial valley an unprecedented elegance. Up close, its belly, which looks like a boat hull, reflects the light and its thin stacks resemble the legs of a giant. It recalls the maritime vocation of the city. The 1,067-meter bridge, a ribbon placed on 18 elliptical piers, rises 45 meters from the ground. A beam bridge, of steel and reinforced concrete, of the most basic form possible. Its architect Renzo Piano wanted it "simple and thrifty, but not trivial, " he said when he presented his sketch drawn in the aftermath of the tragedy.It will look like a ship moored in the valley. A light and shiny steel bridge. During the day it will reflect sunlight and absorb solar energy, and at night it will release it. It will be a parsimonious, sober and solid bridge, like the Genoese. ”
It is nonetheless at the cutting edge of technology
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