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On 7 May 2013, the ship Jolly Nero, while manoeuvring out of the port of Genoa, struck and knocked down the pilots' tower. Nine people lost their lives in the collapse. Renzo Piano and the Renzo Piano Building Workshop were immediately involved in the design of the new structure: after a long series of discussions with all the relevant authorities and a consequent series of studies on its location, the tower found its place in the area of the new Waterfront. The new position was to allow a view of both harbour mouths for a faster and safer support service for ships entering and leaving the port of Genoa, and was not to get in the way of the port's development planning. New piers were built and existing piers reinforced to ensure total safety against ship collisions.
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The Tower is like an imaginary sentinel looking at the horizon and shielding his eyes from the sun by bringing a hand to his forehead. The large cap at the top shadows the nacelle, home to the control cabin, and rests on a structure of steel pipes and cables, light to the eye, a pylon reminiscent of the old harbour hoisting cranes which, coloured white, matches the landscape of the masts of the sailboats moored at the surrounding piers. Inside the pylon, a pair of rack and pinion lifts and a safety ladder provide access to the control cabin. The height of the tower is 65 metres above sea level, rising to 95 metres if the antenna supporting the radars and antennas required for port traffic control is also taken into account.
Yet structural and practical challenges were considerable: the structural team had to support a 9 m × 9 m control cabin at an elevation of 60 m, sheltered by a 28 m × 28 m square roof. With wind speeds reaching 180 km/h and pressures of 200 kg/m², it was critical to limit horizontal displacements and accelerations to ensure operator comfort. Every element also had to be designed for long-term durability in a saline, aggressive environment.
The resulting integrated design is a four-tube steel truss formed by 323.9 mm diameter steel tubes, each 58 m in length and concrete-filled, arranged at the corners of a 3.6 m square footprint. These vertical members are interconnected by 168.3 mm diameter steel crosspieces and braced with high-strength diagonal ties measuring 45 mm in diameter. At the top, a lenticular roof structure features reticular beams that taper toward the perimeter, merging into a single welded profile. To further control deflection in this extremely slender configuration, eight external stays (72 mm in diameter, arranged in pairs at each “leg”) were installed, echoing the rigging of a sailing mast.
«The New Tower is the symbol of the relaunch of Genoa and is developing in what has become a large logistics, port and production hub. Not only that, it also represents a model of resilience, innovation and sustainability, which allows the territory to look to the future with confidence and a true emblem of Made in Italy, appearing as a banner of the blue economy on which our country is betting» Adolfo Urso
The Renzo Piano Building Workshop is an international architectural practice with offices in Paris and Genoa. The Workshop is led by 12 partners, including founder and Pritzker Prize laureate, architect Renzo Piano. The practice permanently employs about 130 architects together with a further 30 support staff including 3D visualization artists, model makers, archivers, administrative and secretarial staff.
https://www.portsofgenoa.com/i...
