Two Hybrid Structures by Pier Luigi Nervi

Abstract

In 1961 at the apex of his career, Pier Luigi Nervi constructed in Italy two of the largest buildings of his entire production: The Palace of Labour in Turin and the Burgo Paper Mill in Mantua. These two buildings may be regarded as the engineering version of the architectural category of the Megastructures, a theme which was developed by seminal architects like Archigram and Hans Hollein. Nervi, as an engineer, was more interested in the structural consequences of these large structures than their social and political impact. Indeed, in both these designs the complex structural issues determined not only the typological solutions and the architectural layout of these edifices but also the choice to make use of an unconventional material for the Italian engineer: Steel.