Pier Luigi Nervi & Africa. Unknown Geographies

Almost none of the currently available studies on the life and works of Pier Luigi Nervi (1891-1979), one of the twentieth century’s most celebrated architects and engineers, mention his involvement with the African continent. This omission is surprising because Studio Nervi, which he ran with his sons since the second half of the 1950s, had intensive and complicated connections with Africa. Between 1964 and 1980 the Studio was involved in around forty projects, including commissions for designs and consultations or proposals for joint ventures all over the continent. How can this deafening silence be explained? There remain a great number of unanswered questions: What were the roles Pier Luigi and his sons played in these projects as compared to previous decades? To what extent did these projects still reflect Nervi’s unmistakable “style”? How innovative were they as compared to his earlier work in the 1950s and 1960s? Do these later works exhibit traces of an evolution of Studio Nervi in design and identity? Based on extensive research in Italy and in various African countries, this book aims to deepen our understanding not only of the work of Pier Luigi Nervi, but also of the complex technical, media, diplomatic, and management issues that Studio Nervi encountered in the latter part of its existence; and to examine, more generally, the Italian contribution to the modernisation of postcolonial Africa.