The Bigo, a photo from Genoa, Liguria

Photographer's Note

Genoa celebrated the 500th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America with an exposition dedicated to the sea. As the thematic centrepiece, a large permanent structure was designed, emulating a ship crane, which would support a fabric membrane over a public piazza and an elevator ride to provide panoramic views of the city. The old Genoese word for a ship crane, `bigo', was adopted for the structure. Arup provided full structural engineering services for the design.

The Bigo consists of two independent sets of cable-linked, cigar-shaped booms fanning out from a small `island' podium located in the dock water. One set of booms supports the tent roof over a harbour pier, covering the piazza. The other set carries a vertical cable-car passenger lift from the quayside. Both sets are anchored down to foundations beneath the harbour water.

The largest of the tapered booms, which supports the cable-car lift, is more than 70m long. The PTFE-coated glassfibre membrane tent roof is supported from four tubular section arches which are, in turn, suspended from the tips of a pair of booms via sets of cables fanning from a special node detail. The lower boundaries of the tent are tensioned against a series of inclined props around its perimeter.

Skylight strips between adjacent tent membrane areas are attached below and on each side of the arches. Glass barrel vault forms supported from spine tubes fixed between the tent suspension points cover these openings. A `pantograph' mechanism incorporated into the suspension points ensures that the inclination of each glass vault is automatically adjusted to fit the geometry of the tent surface each side as it moves under changing wind or snow loads.

Architect
Renzo Piano Building Workshop

From Arup.com

Model: Canon DIGITAL IXUS 50
Software: Adobe Photoshop 7.0
Exposure Time: 1/30
F-Stop: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5800/1000 mm
Date Taken: 2006-11-19 17:06
Metering Mode: Center Weighted Average
Flash: Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
File Size: 194 kb

ChrisJ, brevbrev14, pablominto, delkoo, fabio_ts, Cretense, carper, atus, Wanda1, ALIRIZA, thaprem, JCG, roconnell, AiresSantos has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

ChrisJ (171878) 2006-11-21 4:00

Bonjourno Paolo

Fantastic color contrast of blue & yellow with superb sharpness & pov. I like the repetition too. Ciao!

stefanocer (10642) 2006-11-21 4:04

Bella notturna , presa nel momento in cui la luce naturale d� il meglio di s� e restituisce colori mozzafiato , bravo ben fatto.
Stefano.

brevbrev14 (140) 2006-11-21 4:07

ciao Paolo, questa � davero ben composta e ben eseguita, con la struttura illuminata che fa da quinta e le luci e i riflessi nell' acqua..
Mi piace il cielo non ancora troppo scuro!
ciao e buona settimana!
Valeria

pablominto (53746) 2006-11-21 4:09

Hello Paolo,
Beautiful lines, beautiful light!
You capture the beauty of this piece of art very well, and I feel this time of day adds to the atmosphere...
Great colours!
Greetings,
Pablo -

nwoehnl (122) 2006-11-21 4:25

Ciao Paolo. Nice graphism resulting from this distinctive structure, and good color contrast obtained in this well-exposed blue-hour scene from the harborside exhibition place. The glittering reflections of light on the water surface bring a good atmospheric add-on. Greetings from Kyoto.

delkoo (68) 2006-11-21 5:24

hi paolo,
nice view, impressive foreground which remind us that you are in harbour, nice modern sculpture under a dark blue sky.

regards
didier

John_F_Kennedy (43797) 2006-11-21 5:57

Wonderful deep blue sky against dark architecture. I really appreciate your composition. Good POV and good sharpness.
Achim

barrufeto_77 (28888) 2006-11-21 5:58

Hi Paolo.

The light was excellent. Really impressive!!!

My compliments!

Rgs, Oscar

fabio_ts (13696) 2006-11-21 6:25

Bello il POV che enfatizza la grandezza della struttura, ottimo anche il controllo dell'esposizione, complimenti Paolo, bel lavoro!!

ciao,
Fabio.

Cretense (68709) 2006-11-21 6:47

Hi Paolo!

Great nightshot and beautiful subject! Great composition and great timing! Very informative note, too! Congratulations!

Ciao, Hercules

carper (96) 2006-11-21 6:58

very nice shot Paolo.
not easy such a night shot, but you handled it very good, good quality shot, nice pov and good quality, very nice job.
gr. jaap

gaby (19819) 2006-11-21 9:57

Paolo - splendide et impressionnant, comme d'habitude - c'est vraiment un r嶲al - merci et bonne apr鋊 midi

danyy (0) 2006-11-21 12:06

Bonjour Paolo,
une construction tout � fait surprenante, une mani鋨e peu commune de soutenir certaines structures.
Un endroit qui doit aussi avoir son charme en plein jour.

Bien � toi.
Daniel.

atus (15878) 2006-11-21 12:24

Ciao Paolo,
ottimo pdv, e taglio scelto alla perfezione per rendere l'immagine curiosa ed attraente. L'esposizione � senza sbavature ed i colori sono saturi e naturalmente riprodotti. E poi ho imparato che esiste anche il bigo, finora conoscevo solo la biga...
Ciao e buona serata!
Attila

Wanda1 (15142) 2006-11-21 13:33

Hi Paolo,
An amazing shot well composed with wonderful light and colours. A great clear shot nicely framed.
Regards
Wanda

ALIRIZA (16423) 2006-11-21 16:32

Hi Paolo,
Excellent POV, fantastic shot. Blue tones, sharpness, reflection and composition are marvelous. Great job, my friend...
Best wishes...
Ali Rıza

chrisnet (23062) 2006-11-22 4:31

Hello Paolo,
Good framing, this night shot is very well realised. Well done.
Regards
Christian

JCG (35153) 2006-11-22 4:47

Hi Paolo,

Very graphic shot. I like the lights and these bleu colors. It is pleasant. A good clearnesse too.
Well done Paolo, cheer.

Best regards and a good day,

Jean-Charles

rbcy1974 (20758) 2006-11-22 6:31

Hello Paolo
I remember this spiderlike sculpture. Beautifully set with a very nice late afternoon sky, great light and exposure,
thanks for posting this from the city of my grandfather.
Cheers
Daniel

thaprem (2566) 2006-11-22 7:43

Evry time I tke a night shot with my EOS using a kit lens, I think about buying a better lens...Some times I make it & some time I do not. All I blame it on my lens. But this is some thing amazing, which disaproves my lens 'theory'.
A fantasticvbalance of light& amazing sharpness.
Thanks for that,
Prem.

Graal (103040) 2006-11-23 2:03

Hi Paolo,
unusual construction, interesting view, good quality of photo. I like the colours. Good note also. Well done.
Gr., Aleksander

roconnell (327) 2006-11-23 20:45

Fantastic clarity,especially with your flash not firing - but for the best it seems. The off center composition keeps the scene balanced. Well done.

AiresSantos (56155) 2006-11-24 3:08

Hi Paolo,
LOvely lines in this great night picture. Very good colours and sharpness. I like how you managed the light.
TFS and have a nice weekend,
Aires

Clochette (8076) 2006-11-26 9:37

Hi Paolo !
The moment was well-chosen, not yet the dark, so the night shot is colourful. And I really like this kind of a big flower emerging from the water !

anducina (8407) 2006-12-06 11:42

Excellent compo, light and POV. Great reflections. Very interesting and unusual photo.
TFS,

Andreea