engineering

Pier Luigi Nervi

Pier Luigi Nervi is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pier Luigi Nervi rather than just read about it. In short: Pier Luigi Nervi (21 June 1891 – 9 January 1979) was an Italian engineer and architect. He studied at the University of Bologna graduating in 1913.

Key takeaways

Pier Luigi Nervi belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pier Luigi Nervi to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pier Luigi Nervi from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Pier Luigi Nervi (21 June 1891 – 9 January 1979) was an Italian engineer and architect. He studied at the University of Bologna graduating in 1913. Nervi taught as a professor of engineering at Rome University from 1946 to 1961 and was known as a structural engineer and architect and for his innovative use of reinforced concrete, especially with numerous notable thin shell structures worldwide.

Biography Nervi was born in Sondrio and attended the Civil Engineering School of Bologna from which he graduated in 1913; his formal education was quite similar to that experienced today by Italian civil engineering students. After graduating he joined the Society for Concrete Construction and, during World War I from 1915 to 1918, he served in the Corps of Engineering of the Italian Army. From 1961 to 1962 he was the Norton professor at Harvard University.

Civil engineering works Nervi began practicing civil engineering after 1923. His projects in the 1930s included several airplane hangars that were important for his development as an engineer. A set of hangars in Orvieto (1935) were built entirely out of reinforced concrete, and a second set in Orbetello and Torre del Lago (1939) improved the design by using a lighter roof, precast ribs, and a modular construction method. During the 1940s he developed ideas for reinforced concrete which helped in the rebuilding of many buildings and factories throughout Western Europe, and even designed and created a boat hull that was made 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 shell structures. He borrowed from both Roman and Renaissance architecture while applying ribbing and vaulting to improve strength and eliminate columns. He combined simple geometry and prefabrication to innovate design solutions.

Engineer and architect Nervi was educated and practised as an 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. Nervi expounded his ideas on building in four books (see below) and many learned papers. Archeological excavations suggested that he may have some responsibilities for the Flaminio stadium foundations passing through ancient Roman tombs. His work was also part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

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, for which he designed the roof, which consists of triangular pieces that were cast in place. This building is still used today by over 700 buses and their passengers.

Noted works

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

Awards Pier Luigi Nervi was awarded 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, received the Frank P. Brown Medal of The Franklin Institute and the Wilhelm Exner Medal.

Publications Scienza o arte del costruire? Bussola, Rome, 1945. Costruire correttamente, Hoepli, Milan, 1954. Structures, Dodge, New York, 1958. Aesthetics and Technology in Building (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures, 1961-62). Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1965.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pier Luigi Nervi

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pier Luigi Nervi claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pier Luigi Nervi before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pier Luigi Nervi ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pier Luigi Nervi

In research: Pier Luigi Nervi appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pier Luigi Nervi in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pier Luigi Nervi is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1891 births, 1979 deaths, 20th-century Italian architects, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pier Luigi Nervi outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pier Luigi Nervi in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pier Luigi Nervi means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pier Luigi Nervi out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pier Luigi Nervi in simple terms?

Pier Luigi Nervi (21 June 1891 – 9 January 1979) was an Italian engineer and architect. He studied at the University of Bologna graduating in 1913.

Why does Pier Luigi Nervi matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pier Luigi Nervi?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pier Luigi Nervi.