Pier Luigi Nervi’s design process of hangars

Abstract

The objectives of this paper are to report the construction process of hangars in Orvieto and Orbetello by the construction company of Nervi and Bartoli, and to analyze the formation process of the design philosophy proposed by Nervi through a model experiment conducted on both hangars. Nervi initially attempted to design a hangar with pin joints. This indicates that although Nervi was initially uncertain of the structural safety of a vault roof with rigid joints, he eventually understood its structural safety through experiments. In conclusion, Nervi arrived at a hyperstatic structure of the diagonal rib vault which consisted of crossing each arch in the design process of the hangar in three phases. Furthermore, the joint between the roof composed of them and the pillar is ultimately rigidly joined instead of pin junctions after sketching the relevant plans. Nervi’s design philosophy is to connect each member with a rigid joint, a solid monolithic structure, that is, to constitute a hyperstatic structure, which was seen in the design process of the airplane hangar.