Nervi, Pier Luigi (1891–1979). Italian civil engineer, he made his reputation as one of the most gifted designers of
reinforced-concrete structures of C20. Although influenced by Italian
Rationalism, notably by
Terragni, he remained stylistically independent of fashion. His Florence Stadium (1930–2), with its huge cantilevered roof-structure and projecting spiral stairs, was the first of his many buildings to gain international acclaim. From 1932 he headed his own company, and invented a
vault of diagonally intersecting concrete arched forms, the whole resting on leaning columns like flying
buttresses, which he realized in the huge aircraft hangars at Orvieto (1935–42—destroyed) and elsewhere. He then evolved a system of superimposed steel meshes encased in concrete that enabled him to create prefabricated corrugated elements with high tensile capacity at the Great Hall B, Exhibition Hall, Turin (1947–9). Variations on these techniques were used in Rome at the Palazzetto dello Sport (1956–7—with Vitellozzi), and the huge Palazzo dello Sport (1958–9—with
Piacentini), where an immense dome seems to float over the space. Nervi designed the structure for
Ponti's Pirelli
skyscraper, Milan (1955–8), and, with
Breuer,
Zehrfuss, and others, the UNESCO Buildings, Paris (1953–7), where he was responsible for the Congress Hall, with its roof formed of folded ferroconcrete plates. He published
Aesthetics and Technology in Building (1965) and other works.
Bibliography
P. Collins (1959);
Desideri et al.(eds.) (1979);
Kalman (1994);
Huxtable (1960a);
Lampugnani (ed.) (1988);
Mainstone (1975);
Malave (1984c);
Nervi (1956, 1965);
Placzek (ed.) (1982);
A. Pica (1969);
Jane Turner (1996);
