Palazzetto dello Sport
Nervi, Pier Luigi
Download1A1-NPL-PDS-A3_cp.jpg (517.3Kb)
Alternative Titles
PalaTiziano
PalaFlaminio
Date
1957Description
Detail, entrance gates and waving edge of dome with support struts; An indoor arena located in Piazza Apollodoro in Rome. Built for the 1960 Summer Olympics (opened in 1957), it has a 3,500 seating capacity. In the 1950s Nervi developed the technique of hydraulic prestressing, used to lighten the supports for many of the major buildings that followed. These include two sports halls for the Olympics, which became international prototypes. The saucer dome of the Palazzetto dello Sport (1957; with Annibale Vitellozzi), ca. 60 m in diameter, is supported by an interlaced lattice of beams, precast to form a filigree overlapping petal pattern, apparently growing from the central compression ring. The points of the petals are collected into a series of fans like folded paper at the perimeter. The dome, in the shape of an upturned shell, appears to be floating, secured to the ground only by the "guy-ropes" of its struts. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/ (accessed 7/29/2012)
Type of Work
arena (sports building)Subject
architecture, recreation and games, festivals, Olympics, precast concrete, Twentieth century, Modernist
Rights
Rights Statement
Licensed for educational and research use by the MIT community only