The Rhetoric of Pier Luigi Nervi: Forms in reinforced concrete and ferro-cement - Tapa dura

During his long career, Pier Luigi Nervi has explored the potential of concrete through the cast-in place and the prefabrication of elements in reinforced concrete or in ferro-cement, the material he invented and patented during the war. All of his best known works, such as the Berta Stadium, the hangars built in Orivieto, Orbetello and Torre del Lago Puccini, the Halls of the Turin Exposition Center, the Unesco buildings, the Little Sport Palace and the Papal Audience Hall represent an important chapter in the history of architecture, structure and construction of the twentieth century.

The passion of Nervi for the manufacturing process of the concrete and formworks is examined in a systematic manner within the volume. The authors illustrate the creative process put in place by Nervi through the examination of documents never even studied in other essays, unpublished designs, drawings, specifications, photographs of the yards and correspondence with colleagues and collaborators.

Alberto Bologna received his master degree in architecture at the Politecnico di Torino in 2007 and in 2011 he completed his PhD in History of Architecture and Town Planning in the same University. Since 2011, he conducts research at the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He is the author of Pier Luigi Nervi negli Stati Uniti, 1952-1979, ‘Master Builder of The Modern Age’ and Pier Luigi Nervi ou l’art de la structure, Photographies de la collection Alberto Sartoris.

Roberto Gargiani has taught the history of architecture in Florence, Rouen, Paris, Venice and Rome. Currently is the professor in History of Architecture and Construction an the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He is the author of Rem Koolhaas/OMA: The Construction of Merveilles; Le Corbusier, Béton brut and Ineffable Space, 1940-196: Surface Materials and Psychophysiology of Vision (with Anna Rosellini); Concrete: from Archaeology to Invention, 1700-1769; and Louis I. Kahn, Exposed Concrete and Hollow Stones, 1949-1959.