Nervi, Pier Luigi, 1891-1979, Italian architectural engineer. Nervi is considered one of the foremost European architectural designers of the 20th cent. His first large work, the Giovanni Berta stadium at Florence (1930-32), won world acclaim for the daring and beauty of its cantilevered stairs and roof. Nervi experimented with prefabricated elements in the construction of the Italian air force base at Orbetello (1939). In the mid-1940s he developed ferro-cemento, a strong, light material composed of layers of steel mesh grouted together with concrete. With this material he was able to achieve complicated building units for vast and complex structures. His innovations made possible the intricate and beautiful buildings that have brought him world renown. Especially outstanding are his exposition halls at Turin (1949, 1950); the railway station, Naples (1954); and three Olympic buildings in Rome (1956-59). Nervi has also collaborated in such projects as the headquarters of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Paris (1953-57) and the George Washington Bridge bus station, New York City (1961-62).

(born June 21, 1891, Sondrio, Italy—died Jan. 9, 1979, Rome) Italian engineer and building contractor. He became internationally renowned for his invention of ferro-cement, a material of his own invention composed of dense concrete heavily reinforced with evenly distributed steel mesh that together give it both lightness and strength. His first significant projects included a series of airplane hangars in Italy (1935–41) conceived as concrete vaults with huge spans. In addition to designing buildings, he succeeded in building a sailboat with a ferro-cement hull only 0.5 in. (1.25 cm) thick. Ferro-cement was vital to his complex for the Turin Exhibition (1949–50), a prefabricated, corrugated cylindrical 309-ft (93-m) arch. Nervi worked on the UNESCO headquarters in Paris (1950) with Marcel Breuer and helped design Italy's first skyscraper, the Pirelli Building in Milan (1955–59). Although Nervi's primary concern was never aesthetic, many of his works nonetheless achieved remarkable expressive force.

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Pier Luigi Nervi (June 21, 1891 - January 9, 1979) was an Italian engineer and architect. He studied at the University of Bologna and qualified in 1913. Dr. Nervi taught as a professor of engineering at Rome University from 1946-61. He is renowned for his brilliance as a structural engineer and his novel use of reinforced concrete.

Biography

Pier Luigi Nervi was born in Sondrio and attended the Civil Engineering School of Bologna, from which he graduated in 1913. After graduation, Nervi joined the Society for Concrete Construction. Nervi spent several years in the Italian army during World War I from 1915-1918, when he served in the Corps of Engineering. His formal education was quite similar to that experienced by today's civil engineering student in Italy.

Civil engineering works

Nervi began practicing civil engineering after 1923, and built several airplane hangars amongst his contracts. During 1940s he developed ideas for a reinforced concrete which helped in the rebuilding of many buildings and factories throughout Western Europe, and even designed/created a boat hull that was made of reinforced concrete as a promotion for the Italian government.

Nervi also stressed that intuition should be used as much as mathematics in design, especially with thin shelled structures. He borrowed from both Roman and Renaissance architecture to create aesthetically pleasing structures, yet applied structural aspects such as ribbing and vaulting often based on nature. This was to improve the structural strength and eliminate the need for columns. He succeeded in turning engineering into an art by taking simple geometry and using sophisticated prefabrication to find direct design solutions in his buildings.

Engineer and architect

Pier Luigi Nervi was educated and practised as a ingegnere edile (translated as "building engineer") - in Italy, at the time (and to a lesser degree also today), a building engineer might also be considered an architect. After 1932, his aesthetically pleasing designs were used for major projects. This was due to the booming number of construction projects at the time which used concrete and steel in Europe and the architecture aspect took a step back to the potential of engineering. Nervi successfully made reinforced concrete the main structural material of the day.

International projects

Most of his built structures are in his native Italy, but he also worked on projects abroad. Nervi's first project in the United States was the George Washington Bridge Bus Station. He designed the roof which consists of triangle pieces which were cast in place. This building is still used today by over 700 buses and their passengers.

Noted works

• Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence (1931)
• Exhibition Building, Turin, Italy (1949).
• UNESCO headquarters, Paris (1950) (collaborating with Marcel Breuer and Bernard Zehrfuss)
• The Pirelli Tower, Milan (1950) (collaborating with Gio Ponti)
• Palazzetto dello sport, Rome (1958)
• Olympic Stadium, Rome (1960)
• Palazzo del Lavoro, Turin (1961)
• Paper Mill, Mantua, Italy (1962)
• George Washington Bridge Bus Station, New York City (1963)
• Tour de la Bourse, Montreal (1964)
• Field House at Dartmouth College
• Thompson Arena at Dartmouth College
• Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, San Francisco, California (1967) (collaborating with Pietro Belluschi)
• Paul VI Audience Hall, Vatican City (1971)
• Australian Embassy, Paris (1973) Consulting engineer
• Good Hope Centre, Cape Town (1976) by Studio Nervi, an exhibition hall and conference centre, with the exhibition hall comprising an arch with tie-beam on each of the four vertical facades and two diagonal arches supporting two intersecting barrel-like roofs which in turn were constructed from pre-cast concrete triangular coffers with in-situ concrete beams on the edges.
• Norfolk Scope, Norfolk, VA (1971)

Awards

Pier Luigi Nervi was awarded Gold Medals by the Institution of Structural Engineers, the AIA, RIBA and the Académie d'architecture.

See also

• Thin-shell structure

External links

• Photos Palazzetto dello sport 1958 District Flaminio, Rome, Italy.
• Nervi e l'arte di costruire", Fausto Giovannardi, Borgo San Lorenzo (Florence) Italy 2008