PIER LUIGI NERVI
PIER LUIGI NERVI
NAME : PIER LUIGI NERVI
BORN : 21 JUNE 1891, SONDRIO, ITALY
NATIONALITY : ITALIAN
EDUCATION : UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA IN 1913
OCCUPATION : STRUCTURAL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT
KNOWN FOR : HIS INNOVATIVE USE OF REINFORCED CONCRETE.
EARLIER JOBS : SERVED IN THE CORPS OF ENGINEERING OF THE ITALIAN ARMY DURING WORLD WAR I FROM 1915 TO 1918
AWARDS : GOLD MEDALS BY THE INSTITUTION OF STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS IN THE UK
THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS (AIA GOLD MEDAL 1964)
.IN 1957, RECEIVED THE FRANK P. BROWN MEDAL OF THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE AND THE WILHELM EXNER MEDAL.
HIS THEORY
- In his writings, Nervi constantly reminded readers that 90 percent of his contracts were awarded in competitions where the governing factors were economy and speed of construction. He thrived on these limitations and, indeed, "never found this relentless search for economy an obstacle to achieving the expressiveness of form" desired.
- Nervi also stressed that intuition should be used as much as mathematics in design, especially with thin shell structures.
- Architecture, for Nervi, was "a synthesis of technology and art."
- To find the logical solution to a limiting set of factors within a highly competitive situation was, for him, "to build correctly.“
- His mastery of concrete bespoke a love for its adaptability.
- "Concrete is a living creature which can adapt itself to any form, any need, any stress," he once said.
EARLY WORK AS AN ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT
- Nervi began practicing civil engineering after 1923. His projects in the 1930s included several airplane hangars that were important for his development as an engineer. A set of hangars in Orvieto (1935) were built entirely out of reinforced concrete, and a second set in Orbetello and Torre del Lago (1939) improved the design by using a lighter roof, precast ribs, and a modular construction method.
- During the 1940s he developed ideas for reinforced concrete which helped in the rebuilding of many buildings and factories throughout Western Europe, and even designed and created a boat that was made of reinforced concrete as a promotion for the Italian government.
- He borrowed from both Roman and Renaissance architecture while applying ribbing and vaulting to improve strength and eliminate columns.
- He combined simple geometry and prefabrication to innovate design solutions.
- His work was also part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
VISIONS IN CONCRETE
- Nervi designed and built an exhibition hall, the Salone Agnelli, in Turin (1947-1949) using a system of prefabrication he developed.
- The structure is composed of precast sections of what Nervi called ferrocemento, a material made of a fine mesh of steel wire filled and covered by a thin layer of cement. The use of precast sections eliminates costly and time-consuming wooden formwork, creates a system of mass production that can begin even while the foundations are being dug, speeds construction, and is economical.
- At Turin the hall is covered by precast sections 1 1/2 inches thick forming undulating ribs that carry the structural load across the 328-foot-wide room to fan-shaped piers at the sides.
- The UNESCO Building in Paris (with Marcel Breuer and others, 1952-1957) has a reinforced-concrete structure, the most interesting part of which is the continuous folded slab of the walls and roof of the General Assembly.
- Nervi also designed two sports arenas erected for the Roman Olympics of 1960. The 5,000-seat "little palace" (with Annibale Vitellozzi, 1957) has prefabricated diamond-shaped sections descending from an overhead compression ring to exposed, prefabricated, Y-shaped piers sloped to receive their diagonal thrusts. The 16,000-seat "palace" (with M. Piacentini, 1958-1960), has piers covered on the exterior by a glass skirt.
- For the Palace of Labor in Turin (1960-1961) Nervi combined reinforced concrete with steel (designed by G. Covre) to create a large rectangular hall filled with a forest of tree like structures forming ceiling and support.
- At the Burgo Paper Mill outside Mantua (1961-1962) he used steel cables suspended between concrete piers to create a clear span of 525 feet.
- In his writings, Nervi constantly reminded readers that 90 percent of his contracts were awarded in competitions where the governing factors were economy and speed of construction. He thrived on these limitations and, indeed, "never found this relentless search for economy an obstacle to achieving the expressiveness of form" desired.
- Nervi also stressed that intuition should be used as much as mathematics in design, especially with thin shell structures.
- Architecture, for Nervi, was "a synthesis of technology and art."
- To find the logical solution to a limiting set of factors within a highly competitive situation was, for him, "to build correctly.“
- His mastery of concrete bespoke a love for its adaptability.
- "Concrete is a living creature which can adapt itself to any form, any need, any stress," he once said.
EARLY WORK AS AN ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT
- Nervi began practicing civil engineering after 1923. His projects in the 1930s included several airplane hangars that were important for his development as an engineer. A set of hangars in Orvieto (1935) were built entirely out of reinforced concrete, and a second set in Orbetello and Torre del Lago (1939) improved the design by using a lighter roof, precast ribs, and a modular construction method.
- During the 1940s he developed ideas for reinforced concrete which helped in the rebuilding of many buildings and factories throughout Western Europe, and even designed and created a boat that was made of reinforced concrete as a promotion for the Italian government.
- He borrowed from both Roman and Renaissance architecture while applying ribbing and vaulting to improve strength and eliminate columns.
- He combined simple geometry and prefabrication to innovate design solutions.
- His work was also part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
VISIONS IN CONCRETE
- Nervi designed and built an exhibition hall, the Salone Agnelli, in Turin (1947-1949) using a system of prefabrication he developed.
- The structure is composed of precast sections of what Nervi called ferrocemento, a material made of a fine mesh of steel wire filled and covered by a thin layer of cement. The use of precast sections eliminates costly and time-consuming wooden formwork, creates a system of mass production that can begin even while the foundations are being dug, speeds construction, and is economical.
- At Turin the hall is covered by precast sections 1 1/2 inches thick forming undulating ribs that carry the structural load across the 328-foot-wide room to fan-shaped piers at the sides.
- The UNESCO Building in Paris (with Marcel Breuer and others, 1952-1957) has a reinforced-concrete structure, the most interesting part of which is the continuous folded slab of the walls and roof of the General Assembly.
- Nervi also designed two sports arenas erected for the Roman Olympics of 1960. The 5,000-seat "little palace" (with Annibale Vitellozzi, 1957) has prefabricated diamond-shaped sections descending from an overhead compression ring to exposed, prefabricated, Y-shaped piers sloped to receive their diagonal thrusts. The 16,000-seat "palace" (with M. Piacentini, 1958-1960), has piers covered on the exterior by a glass skirt.
- For the Palace of Labor in Turin (1960-1961) Nervi combined reinforced concrete with steel (designed by G. Covre) to create a large rectangular hall filled with a forest of tree like structures forming ceiling and support.
- At the Burgo Paper Mill outside Mantua (1961-1962) he used steel cables suspended between concrete piers to create a clear span of 525 feet.
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