MODEL TO DESIGN AND BUILD: THE AIRPLANES HANGARS OF PIER LUIGI NERVI

Between 1935 and 1942 Pier Luigi Nervi designed and built different hangars made by reinforced concrete that were very important structures from both architectural and engineering point of view. In detail, 8 different structures were created divided into two different typologies. The research presented in the paper is enclosed in the framework of the exhibition entitled "Pier Luigi Nervi, il modello come strumento di progetto e costruzione" that gathers researches from Università degli Studi di Bologna, Università di Roma Tor Vergata e Politecnico di Milano. In the paper the principal aim is comparing experiences in structural and architectural design about the “model” as representation issue in the architectural design process. Furthermore, the exhibition itself was used as a starting point for a general discussion about the meaning of the logical passage that leads engineers and architects from physical scaled to numerical structural models. The Politecnico di Milano contributed to re-writing the first experiences of collaboration between Nervi and Danusso in the creation of scaled models, used as a support for structural design. Indeed, scale models were widely used in the past for the understanding of the structural behaviour of complex structures. Unfortunately, many of these masterpieces have been destroyed over the years (as happened to the two original models that were used in the past in the study of hangars and that have been faithfully reproduced in the exhibition). In the final part of the paper the structural behaviour of the two types of hangars is discussed, underlining all the principal strengths and weaknesses of these complex structures.