Pier Luigi Nervi

Personal information
Pier Luigi Nervi

Name	Pier Luigi Nervi
Nationality	Italian
Birth date	June 21, 1891(1891-06-21)
Birth place	Sondrio, Italy
Date of death	January 9, 1979 (aged 87)
Education	University of Bologna
Work
Engineering Discipline	Structural engineer
Institution memberships	Society for Concrete Construction Institution of Structural Engineers
Significant projects	Olympic Stadium in Rome (1960) UNESCO headquarters in Paris (1950)
Significant Awards	IStructE Gold Medal

Pier Luigi Nervi (June 21, 1891 - January 9, 1979) was an Italian engineer and architect. He studied at the University of Bologna and qualified in 1913. Dr. Nervi taught as a professor of engineering at Rome University from 1946-61. He is renowned for his brilliance as a structural engineer and his novel use of reinforced concrete.

Biography

Pier Luigi Nervi was born Sondrio and attended the Civil Engineering School of Bologna, from which he graduated in 1913. After graduation, Nervi joined the Society for Concrete Construction. Nervi spent several years in the Italian army during World War I from 1915-1918, when he served in the Corps of Engineering. His formal education was quite similar to that experienced by today's civil engineering student in Italy.

Civil engineering works

Nervi in front of the Sports Palace in Rome (1960)

Nervi began practicing civil engineering after 1923, and built several airplane hangars amongst his contracts. During 1940s he developed ideas for a reinforced concrete which helped in the rebuilding of many buildings and factories throughout Western Europe, and even designed/created a boat hull that was comprised of reinforced concrete as a promotion for the Italian government.

Nervi also stressed that intuition should be used as much as mathematics in design, especially with thin shelled structures. He borrowed from both Roman and Renaissance architecture to create aesthetically pleasing structures, yet applied structural aspects such as ribbing and vaulting often based on nature. This was to improve the structural strength and eliminate the need for columns. He succeeded in turning engineering into an art by taking simple geometry and using sophisticated prefabrication to find direct design solutions in his buildings.

Engineer and architect

Pier Luigi Nervi was educated and practised as a ingegnere edile (translated as "building engineer") - in Italy, at the time (and to a lesser degree also today), a building engineer might also be considered an architect. After 1932, his aesthetically pleasing designs were used for major projects. This was due to the booming number of construction projects at the time which used concrete and steel in Europe and the architecture aspect took a step back to the potential of engineering. Nervi successfully made reinforced concrete the main structural material of the day.

[edit] International projects

Most of his built structures are in his native Italy, but he also worked on projects abroad. Nervi's first project in the United States was the George Washington Bridge Bus Station. He designed the roof which consists of triangle pieces which were poured in place. This building is still used today by over 700 buses and their passengers.