During the years of the UNESCO headquarters design in Paris, Pier Luigi Nervi was also involved in the project for the Centre National des Industries et des Techniques (CNIT), located in La Défense, in the northwestern suburb of the city. Between 1953 and 1955, he took part in a team that included Bernard Zehrfuss, his interlocutor on the UNESCO project as well, within the framework of an Italian-French collaboration that reflects the renewed alliance between architects and engineers and the international scope of major postwar construction projects. Drawing on previously unpublished archival sources, this article reconstructs the circumstances of Nervi’s involvement and the details of his subsequent exclusion, shedding new light on a little-known episode in his career, highlighting his essential role in the project, and contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the CNIT’s genesis and the negotiation processes that shaped its realization.
Folgiero, R. (2025). «La chose est tout à fait possible»: Pier Luigi Nervi a Parigi per il CNIT (1953-55). RICERCHE DI STORIA DELL'ARTE(146 – Ricerche di storia dell’arte – Paesaggi urbani del Novecento. Conoscenza e restauro dei contesti), 121-128 [10.7374/118476].
«La chose est tout à fait possible»: Pier Luigi Nervi a Parigi per il CNIT (1953-55)
roberta folgiero
2025-01-01
Abstract
During the years of the UNESCO headquarters design in Paris, Pier Luigi Nervi was also involved in the project for the Centre National des Industries et des Techniques (CNIT), located in La Défense, in the northwestern suburb of the city. Between 1953 and 1955, he took part in a team that included Bernard Zehrfuss, his interlocutor on the UNESCO project as well, within the framework of an Italian-French collaboration that reflects the renewed alliance between architects and engineers and the international scope of major postwar construction projects. Drawing on previously unpublished archival sources, this article reconstructs the circumstances of Nervi’s involvement and the details of his subsequent exclusion, shedding new light on a little-known episode in his career, highlighting his essential role in the project, and contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the CNIT’s genesis and the negotiation processes that shaped its realization.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
