Pier Luigi Nervi was born on June 21, 1891, and died on January 9, 1979. He was an Italian engineer and architect. He studied at the University of Bologna and graduated in 1913. From 1946 to 1961, he taught engineering at Rome University. He was known for designing strong buildings and using reinforced concrete, a type of building material made with concrete and steel. He created many thin shell structures, which are curved buildings that use less material but remain strong. His work was recognized worldwide.

Biography

Nervi was born in Sondrio and went to the Civil Engineering School of Bologna, where he graduated in 1913. His education was similar to what Italian civil engineering students study today. After graduating, he joined the Society for Concrete Construction. During World War I, from 1915 to 1918, he worked in the Italian Army's Engineering Corps. From 1961 to 1962, he was a professor at Harvard University.

Civil engineering works

After 1923, Nervi worked as a civil engineer. In the 1930s, he designed several airplane hangars that helped him grow as an engineer. A group of hangars built in Orvieto in 1935 were made completely of reinforced concrete. Another group built in Orbetello and Torre del Lago in 1939 used a lighter roof, precast ribs, and a modular building method to improve the design.

In the 1940s, Nervi created ideas about reinforced concrete that helped rebuild many buildings and factories in Western Europe. He also designed a boat hull made of reinforced concrete as part of a project for the Italian government.

Nervi believed that intuition was as important as mathematics in engineering, especially when designing thin shell structures. He took inspiration from Roman and Renaissance architecture and used ribbing and vaulting to make structures stronger and remove the need for columns. He combined simple geometric shapes with prefabrication to create new and effective design solutions.

Engineer and architect

Nervi was educated and worked as an ingegnere edile, which means "building engineer" in Italy. At that time, and to a lesser extent today, a building engineer could also be considered an architect. After 1932, his beautiful designs were used for large projects. This happened because there were many construction projects in Europe that used concrete and steel, and the focus on architecture shifted to the possibilities of engineering. Nervi helped make reinforced concrete the main material used in construction during that time. He shared his ideas about building in four books and many research papers.

Archaeological digs suggested that he might have been responsible for the Flaminio stadium’s foundation, which passed through ancient Roman tombs. His work was also part of the architecture competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

International projects

Most of the buildings he created are located in his home country, Italy, but he also worked on projects in other countries. Nervi's first project in the United States was the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, where he designed the roof made of triangular pieces that were built on site. This building is still used today by more than 700 buses and their passengers.

Noted works

• Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence, Italy (built in 1931)
• Ugolino Golf House in Impruneta, Italy (built in 1934, worked with Gherardo Bosio)
• Torino Esposizioni in Turin, Italy (built in 1949)
• UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France (built in 1950, worked with Marcel Breuer and Bernard Zehrfuss)
• Pirelli Tower in Milan, Italy (built in 1950, worked with Gio Ponti)
• Palazzo dello sport EUR (now PalaLottomatica) in Rome, Italy (built in 1956)
• Palazzetto dello sport in Rome, Italy (built in 1958)
• Stadio Flaminio in Rome, Italy (built in 1957)
• Palazzo del Lavoro in Turin, Italy (built in 1961)
• Palazzetto dello sport in Turin, Italy (built in 1961)
• Australia Square tower building in Sydney, Australia (built between 1961 and 1967)
• Sacro Cuore (Bell Tower) in Florence, Italy (built in 1962)
• Paper Mill in Mantua, Italy (built in 1962)
• George Washington Bridge Bus Station in New York City, USA (built in 1963)
• Australia Square tower in Sydney, Australia (built in 1964, architect: Harry Seidler & Associates)
• Tour de la Bourse in Montreal, Canada (built in 1964, worked with Luigi Moretti)
• Leverone Field House at Dartmouth College, USA
• Sede Centrale della Banca del Monte di Parma in Parma, Italy (built in 1968, worked with Gio Ponti, Antonio Fornaroli, and Alberto Rosselli)
• Edmund Barton Building (also called Trade Group Offices) in Canberra, Australia (built in 1970, architect: Harry Seidler & Associates)
• MLC Centre in Sydney, Australia (built in 1973, architect: Harry Seidler & Associates)
• Thompson Arena at Dartmouth College, USA (built between 1973 and 1974)
• Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco, California, USA (built in 1967, worked with Pietro Belluschi)
• Paul VI Audience Hall in Vatican City (built in 1971)
• Chrysler Hall and Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, USA (built in 1971)
• Australian Embassy in Paris, France (built in 1973, consulting engineer and architect: Harry Seidler & Associates)
• Good Hope Centre in Cape Town, South Africa (built in 1976, designed by Studio Nervi; the exhibition hall includes an arch with tie-beams on each of the four vertical sides and two diagonal arches supporting two barrel-like roofs made of pre-cast concrete triangular coffers and in-situ concrete beams on the edges)

• Pirelli Tower
• Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption
• Norfolk Scope
• George Washington Bridge Bus Station

Awards

Pier Luigi Nervi was given Gold Medals by the Institution of Structural Engineers in the UK, the American Institute of Architects (AIA Gold Medal 1964), and the RIBA. In 1957, he received the Frank P. Brown Medal from The Franklin Institute and the Wilhelm Exner Medal.

Publications

• Science or Art of Building? Bussola, Rome, 1945.
• Building Correctly. Published by Hoepli, Milan, in 1954.
• Structures. Published by Dodge, New York, in 1958.
• Aesthetics and Technology in Building (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures, 1961–62). Published by Harvard University Press in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1965.