Pier Luigi Nervi

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Pier Luigi Nervi (born June 21, 1891 in Sondrio , Lombardy , † January 9, 1979 in Rome ) was an Italian civil engineer of the 20th century.

Life

Nervi was born to parents Luisa and Antonio Bartoli from Savona . Nervi spent his youth in several Italian cities because of his father's occupation, who frequently changed his place of work as a senior postal worker. Finally he studied at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the University of Bologna and graduated there on July 28, 1913 with a diploma.

After graduating, he worked in the technical department of the Society for Concrete Structures in Bologna and Florence until 1923 . Attilio Muggia, with whom Nervi had studied, was the director of this company. After the end of the First World War, he transferred the office management of the branch in Florence to Nervi. In 1923 Nervi set up his own business in Rome and together with Rodolfo Nebbiosi founded his own company, the “Società Ingg. Nervi e Nebbiosi ”. In 1924 he married Irene Calosi. From this marriage the four sons Antonio, Mario, Carlo and Vittorio were born.

In 1932 he and his cousin, the engineer Giovanni Bartoli, founded the “Società Ingg. Nervi e Bartoli ”. In 1954 his eldest son Antonio (* 1925) came to this office community, in 1960 the two sons Mario (* 1926) and Vittorio (* 1930) followed. Nervis fourth son Carlo worked as a specialist in oncology in Rome. In 1957 Pier Luigi Nervi was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1960 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1973 he was accepted as an external member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts .

plant

Nervi worked as a designer, structural engineer, engineer and consultant. His first internationally acclaimed work was the municipal stadium of Florence (built 1930–1932) with 35,000 seats (today's Stadio Artemio Franchi ), an inexpensive exposed concrete construction with cantilevered spiral staircases and the striking marathon tower. In 1935 he won the Orbetello hangar competition , which was completed by 1938.

In most of his buildings, Nervi uses the geometry for a different type of shell construction. It is often characterized by a spatial latticework of concrete ribs with concrete surfaces on top . His buildings also always aim to be inexpensive. For the aircraft hangars in Orbetello and Torre del Lago (1940-1943) he used a lightweight construction with partially prefabricated concrete elements . In doing so, he showed new possibilities in terms of production and economy.

In 1945 he first taught construction technology at the Scuola di Architettura Organica (in the Palazzo del Drago) for the Association of Organic Architecture (APAO) founded by Bruno Zevi in Rome. From 1946 to 1961 he held the chair for construction technology and materials science at the architecture faculty of the University of La Sapienza in Rome as a full professor . During this time he further developed ferrocement (ital .: ferrocemente ), a variant of reinforced concrete that is characterized by a high proportion of cement, slim, net-like reinforcement and thin walls of just a few centimeters and is particularly suitable for the construction of thin shells . From 1948 to 1949 he planned and constructed the Torino Esposizioni exhibition hall in Turin. For the implementation of the building, which was under great time pressure, Nervi constructed a mobile tubular frame, for which he applied for a patent .

Other important design achievements are the ballroom in Chianciano Terme with a reticulated vault (1950–1952), the UNESCO headquarters in Paris (1953–1958 with Marcel Breuer and Bernard Zehrfuss ) and the Pirelli high-rise in Milan (1955–1958, together with Gio Ponti ). The sports buildings implemented for the 1960 Olympics in Rome represent a special achievement. a. the two round buildings Palazzo dello Sport (in collaboration with Marcello Piacentini ) on the grounds of the EUR and Palazzetto dello Sport as well as the Stadio Flaminio .

Late works include the George Washington Bridge Bus Station in New York (1963), the Tour de la Bourse in Montréal (1964, with Luigi Moretti ) and the Vatican Audience Hall built in 1970 .

Nervi has written numerous scientific treatises, including the art or science of building? (Scienza o arte del costruire?, 1945), The Language of Architecture (El lenguaye Arquitectonico , 1950) and New Buildings (Nuove Strutture , 1963). In 1968 he was awarded the international Antonio Feltrinelli Prize . In 1967 he received the gold medal from the Institution of Structural Engineers .

Important buildings (selection)

Pirelli skyscraper in Milan (with Gio Ponti ), 1956–1958

literature

Exhibitions

  • MAXXI , Rome until October 2016

Movie

  • Parabeton - Pier Luigi Nervi and Roman concrete. Documentary, Germany, 2012, 99 min., Script and director: Heinz Emigholz , production: Filmgalerie 451, WDR , 3sat , series: Aufbruch der Moderne, German cinema release: May 31, 2012, first broadcast: April 26, 2014 on 3sat, synopsis at 3Sat ( Memento from May 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ).

Web links

Commons : Pier Luigi Nervi  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Honorary Members: Pier Luigi Nervi. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed March 17, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Nervi, Pier Luigi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian civil engineer
DATE OF BIRTH June 21, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Sondrio , Lombardy
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1979
Place of death Rome , Italy