ē`jē nĕr`vē), 1891–1979, Italian architectural engineer. Nervi is considered one of the foremost European architectural designers of the 20th cent. His first large work, the Giovanni Berta stadium at Florence (1930–32), won world acclaim for the daring and beauty of its cantilevered stairs and roof. Nervi experimented with prefabricated elements in the construction of the Italian air force base at Orbetello (1939). In the mid-1940s he developed ferro-cemento, a strong, light material composed of layers of steel mesh grouted together with concrete. With this material he was able to achieve complicated building units for vast and complex structures. His innovations made possible the intricate and beautiful buildings that have brought him world renown. Especially outstanding are his exposition halls at Turin (1949, 1950); the railway station, Naples (1954); and three Olympic buildings in Rome (1956–59). Nervi has also collaborated in such projects as the headquarters of the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Paris (1953–57) and the George Washington Bridge bus station, New York City (1961–62).
Bibliography
See his New Structures (tr. 1963) and Aesthetics and Technology in Building (tr. 1965); study by A. L. Huxtable (1960).
Nervi, Pier Luigi
(born June 21, 1891, Sondrio, Italy—died Jan. 9, 1979, Rome) Italian engineer and building contractor. He became internationally renowned for his invention of ferro-cement, a material of his own invention composed of dense concrete heavily reinforced with evenly distributed steel mesh that together give it both lightness and strength. His first significant projects included a series of airplane hangars in Italy (1935–41) conceived as concrete vaults with huge spans. In addition to designing buildings, he succeeded in building a sailboat with a ferro-cement hull only 0.5 in. (1.25 cm) thick. Ferro-cement was vital to his complex for the Turin Exhibition (1949–50), a prefabricated, corrugated cylindrical 309-ft (93-m) arch. Nervi worked on the UNESCO headquarters in Paris (1950) with Marcel Breuer and helped design Italy's first skyscraper, the Pirelli Building in Milan (1955–59). Although Nervi's primary concern was never aesthetic, many of his works nonetheless achieved remarkable expressive force.
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