pier, in engineering, term applied to a mass of reinforced concrete or masonry supporting a large structure, such as a bridge. When piers are built on ground of poor bearing value, it is often necessary to drive piles to obtain a firm base. Construction of piers built in riverbeds is facilitated by the use of cofferdams or caissons. Structures that extend out from the shore and over the water, serving as a place to land passengers and merchandise from vessels, are also known as piers. They are used in many harbors when there is ample width of stream; in New York harbor, for example, great economy of shore front is realized by building piers out at right angles to the shore. These piers are generally built on pile foundations. In architecture the term applies to the clustered Gothic pillar, to a wall between openings, and to a detached masonry mass serving as a gate post.

Pasolini, Pier Paolo, 1922-75, Italian writer and film director. A former Roman Catholic and a Marxist, Pasolini brought to his work a combination of religious and social consciousness. His early works, including the novel A Violent Life (1957; tr. 1985) and the first film he directed, Accatone (1961), deal with the grim effects of poverty and squalor. His other films include Mamma Roma (1962), The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964), Oedipus Rex (1967), and Teorema (1968). His later films, imagistic and erotic adaptations of classical literature in which the sacred and the profane mingle, include The Decameron (1970), The Canterbury Tales (1972), and Arabian Nights (1974). His final work, Salò (1977), based on a Marquis de Sade novel, 120 Days of Sodom, is set in Fascist Italy, filled with depictions of sexual cruelty, and generated immense controversy. Shortly after the completion of Salò, Pasolini was murdered under violent and mysterious circumstances by two street hustlers.

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).

In building construction, a vertical load-bearing member such as an intermediate support for adjacent ends of two bays or spans. Bulkier than a column but smaller than a wall, a pier can support an arch or beam. The lower portion of a pier may be widened to better distribute the downward pressure of a massive overlying structure. In Romanesque and Gothic architecture, a feature of the nave arcade is the compound pier, which is cross-shaped in cross section, with shafts placed in the recesses.

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(born March 5, 1922, Bologna, Italy—died Nov. 2, 1975, Ostia, near Rome) Italian film director, poet, and novelist. He wrote novels about Rome's slum life as well as a significant body of poetry. Pasolini became a screenwriter in the mid-1950s, collaborating most notably on Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria (1956). His directorial debut, Accattone (1961), was based on his novel A Violent Life (1959). His best-known film, stylistically unorthodox and implicitly radical, is perhaps The Gospel According to Saint Matthew (1964). Later films include Oedipus Rex (1967), Teorema (1968), Medea (1969), The Canterbury Tales (1972), and The Arabian Nights (1974), which won a special jury prize at Cannes. His use of eroticism, violence, and depravity were criticized by Italian religious authorities.

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(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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