Italian Workshop on
Shell and Spatial Structures
Engineers of their time: what history teaches us in times of emergency
Tullia Iori (Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Italy)
You probably think you're living in the worst crisis ever. But the history of structural engineering teaches us that crises can bring many surprises.
I'd like to briefly tell you three stories: that of Pier Luigi Nervi and the ban on the use of reinforced concrete in Italy in 1936, which stimulated his most original inventions; that of Silvano Zorzi who, during the Nazi occupation of Italy, had to flee to Switzerland and there met a master, who transformed him into the best Italian designer of prestressed reinforced concrete; and that of Riccardo Morandi, who, unable to build cinemas after the Second World War, dedicated himself to the reconstruction of bombed Italy, designing bridges for the first time and discovering his true inclination.
Three Italian engineers who were able to bring out the best in the conditions around them.
Be engineers of your time too! And everything will be fine.
Tullia Iori
Tullia Iori, civil engineer, is professor of History of Structural Engineering at University of Rome "Tor Vergata", in Italy. She is the director of the Phd Program “Civil Engineering".
Her research subjects include the history of construction, the history of structural engineering and the conservation of bridges and civil structures.
She designed and headed with Sergio Poretti and, after his death, is now the responsible of the research “SIXXI - XX Century Structural Engineering: the Italian Contribution”, funded by an ERC Advanced Grant.
She published many books and papers on Pier Luigi Nervi, Riccardo Morandi and on the History of Italian Structural Engineering. She curates the books series “SIXXI - Storia dell'ingegneria strutturale in Italia”, which is now at the 5th issues, to tell the stories discovered during the research.