Keeping it Modern [CLOSED] | 2019 Planning Grant. The Halls of Turin Exhibition Center by Pier Luigi Nervi: a multi-disciplinary approach for their diagnosis and preservation.

The overall objective of the proposed research program is the development of a Conservation Plan (CP) for the two halls by Pier Luigi Nervi of the Turin Exhibition Center.

The two main buildings of the Center (Halls B and C), currently abandoned, are outstanding examples of a pioneering use, at the intersection between inspiration and technique, of new advanced methods in reinforced concrete construction, combining innovative prefabrication procedures and the re-invention by Nervi of ferrocement, used to form extremely thin elements.

The City of Turin has recently evaluated the possible reuse and rehabilitation of the building. This CP is expected to push and contribute to the preservation of the halls designed and built by Nervi, with special emphasis on structural and seismic vulnerability aspects, also due to concerns raised on the durability of concrete materials and technologies. Re-using these buildings entails the challenge to guarantee new extended service life to concrete structures built many decades ago and faces the need for a seismic assessment of these structures, in compliance to recent Italian standards that now strictly apply to both new and existing structures, on the whole Italian territory.
The CP will issue guidelines to reconcile structural requirements and conservation criteria.

Project Presentation:

The first results of the Torino Esposizioni Keeping It Modern project finalised to the preparation of a conservation plan for this iconic building by Pier Luigi Nervi, which will be the object of study for the students participating in the next the REgenerate workshop in 2023 were presented in 14th fib PhD Symposium, Rome 2022 on September 7th, 2022.

Project period
(2019 - 2022)

The Getty Foundation, Los Angeles (USA) - Keeping it Modern

Rosario Ceravolo