THE "FERRO-CEMENTO" OF PIER LUIGI NERVI, THE NEW MATERIAL AND THE FIRST EXPERIMENTAL BUILDING

Autore: C.Greco
Pubblicazione: Proceedings of of the International Symposium of IASS (5-9 giugno 1995, Milano)
Anno: Padova, 1995

In 1943 Pier Luigi Nervi tested and presented in his papers, a new structural element, an extremely thin plate of concrete made of layers of small diameter wire mesh and cement mortar with sand used as the binder. Two years later, in 1945, he built with this thin structure, an experimental storehouse for his own Company in Rome. The storehouse, is the first application in building construction of the ingenious intuition of Pier Luigi Nervi which made it possible, later on, the realization of his large coverings. The building, with its absolute originality, has a role in the evolution of thin structures of reinforced concrete. These thin structures made optimum use of the original characteristics of reinforced concrete first patented in the 19th century – the malleability and its monolithic nature. Nervi introduced two new factors; the distribution of the iron and its subdivision, and the elimination of wooden forms for casting. The first factor gave birth to a new composite material – the “ferro-cemento”, and the second factor enormously simplified the construction of thin structures as experimented for the first time in storehouse in Rome. Construction drawings, file and today’s pictures will be shown with test data obtained at the time of the construction stage compared with the present situation of the building 50 years later.