6×4,5 film scan (Ilford FP4)
To celebrate Centenary of Italian Unity, in 1959 a tender was done to build an exhibition pavillon in Turin. The winning project was the one by engineer Pier Luigi Nervi with with Gino Covre and Antonio Nervi.
Nervi imagined sixteen concrete towers, with a variable geometry, surmounted by square “umbrellas”, 40 meters per side, made of steel. These square “umbrellas” were linked by transparent elements to give light to the huge area (25000 m2). On the perimeters there were different floors made with the classic Nervi’s isostatic ribbed slabs made using moveable ferroconcrete formworks.
The genial simplicity of the project allowed the construction company (Nervi & Bartoli and Antonio Badoni) to realize the 650.000 m3 building in less than one year (February to December 1960). Outside the building, a park with a futuristic monorail train was realized too.
Today (2018) the whole place is abandoned and only few meters of the monorail are still in place. Nevertheless the concrete pillars are in a perfect looking state.
