Italian style skyscrapers. High-rise construction in the fifties and sixties
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/ic.71572Keywords:
Italian Engineering, skyscrapers, structures, reinforced concrete, Pier Luigi Nervi, Arturo Danusso, Italian Style, International Style, Construction History, SIXXI research projectAbstract
In the fifties and sixties, while Italian engineering was receiving important international awards, the theme of the tall building attracted the attention of the best architects. They made it a field of design experimentation, immediately sensing how the strategic use of the structure could revolutionize the already stereotyped image of the all-steel and glass towers proposed by the International Style. Gio Ponti, Luigi Moretti and the BBPR thus created formidable partnerships with Pier Luigi Nervi and Arturo Danusso, the most active engineers in the field of skyscraper design. The result was at least three masterpieces, among the works created in those years: the Velasca tower and the Pirelli skyscraper in Milan and the Stock Exchange tower in Montreal, which, at the time of its completion, also marked the record for the highest reinforced concrete building in the world.
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