Stefano Boeri has revealed the design of a circular elevated walkway built below Renzo Piano’s replacement of the collapsed Morandi Bridge in Genoa, Italy.
Design Features
This arcade was developed by the studio named Stefano Boeri Architetti, who works with Metrogramma and Inside Outside.
The walkway formed part of the Polcevera Park and The Red Circle master plan,
which was designed to “breathe new life” into the landscape recovering from the collapsed Morandi Bridge in 2018.
The master plan overhauled the site below the piano alternate structure,
with a red circular walkway elevated over biodiverse gardens and a “sustainable innovation” area.
As Stefano Boeri Architetti explained: “The Polcevera Park and the Red Circle have been thought of as a system of parks with different ecosystems and infrastructures.”
and for sustainable mobility and smart buildings for research,
development and manufacturing with the aim of reflecting the current image of the Polcevera Valley from a complex and tragically devastated place
to a region of sustainable innovation in order to renew Genoa itself.
The giant corridor has also created a circular ‘path’ for bicycles and pedestrians to easily move between the parks and buildings,
in the heart of Polisfera Park and the Red Circle.
It was 1,570 meters in length and 250 meters in radius, and was built of steel as a reference to
“the strong local traditions of blast furnaces, hoists, and overhead cranes”.
Walkway design
The walkway in the city was also marked by a 120-meter-high wind tower,
which was used to generate green energy that was distributed to buildings in the area.
Below it is the Polcevera Park, which has been divided into a number of “linear fields”
aligned with the bridge’s support columns.
While the length of these fields varied from 7 to 20 meters,
and each contained a different group of plants and tree species to increase the biodiversity in the area,
they were also developed to absorb and collect rainwater for irrigation.
This park has also provided the city with a variety of animal places as well as social and recreational activities for the locals.
There is also a meandering ramp that runs perpendicular to the fields and connects them to the circular path.
Design shape
The studio, in the heart of Polcevera Park, also featured a jungle-like installation called Genova
in the Wood by artist Luca Vitone, which included 43 trees in memory of the bridge collapse victims.
This also included a number of “oddly shaped” benches, such as wheels and crosses,
designed to double as quiet reading nooks among the trees.
The main scheme of Polcevera Park and The Red Circle is completed by clusters of industrial buildings around the edge of the park, which were designed by Metrogramma Milano.
Each building served a variety of different functions and was connected directly to its neighbors via the red elevated walkway that runs through each building.
All new buildings were painted blue as a reference to the Mediterranean,
and were built with sustainable materials with large flat roofs to accommodate solar panels and other renewable energy sources.
The masterplan has also been developed alongside the construction of a new highway bridge designed by Italian architect Piano,
which was revealed just four months after the collapse of the Morandi Bridge.
Described by Piano as a “very Genoese bridge”, its replacement would take the form of a simple white beam supported at regular intervals by long columns.
Elsewhere in Italy, OMA is working with Laboratorio Permanente to develop the Agente Climate masterplan in Milan,
which has seen two abandoned merchandise yards transformed into public parks to filter out the city’s air and water pollution.
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