The MAXXI Fund
The Pier Luigi Nervi Fund in the MAXXI Architecture Collections consists of the professional archive of Pier Luigi Nervi. The fund also contains a small nucleus of documents testifying to the activity of the studio in the two years following his death in 1979. The fund bears witness to the design activity of Pier Luigi Nervi and his Studio, his scientific and didactic activity, and his relations with other protagonists of the architectural and entrepreneurial world of the 20th century. The most consistent nucleus is represented by the photographic documentation that testifies to the entire activity, also through precious photographs of construction sites; through graphic designs, attached documents, and photographic material, 426 are attested.
The archive was declared of notable historical interest on 26th September 2002 and was ceded by the heirs of Antonio Nervi (Irene, Clara, and Lucia Nervi) in 2004 to the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities for the MAXXI Architecture collections.
The richness and intensity of his contacts with figures and personalities from all over the world can be well-reconstructed thanks to the vast correspondence, filed in alphabetical and chronological files, as well as the documentation, including photographs, of his continuous travels. Minutes and originals of letters relating to requests for advice from colleagues; work proposals from clients; offers of work and internships in his studio from professionals and students; requests to view work in progress from scholars; requests to send materials and writings for publications from publishing houses; requests for financial aid from private individuals and ecclesiastical institutions; invitations to meetings, conferences and trips from professional associations, academic and cultural institutions as well as foreign embassies; and praise for his work.
In the entire archive, 428 projects dating from 1926 to 1980 clearly show the international character of Pier Luigi Nervi’s activity: in addition to 232 projects carried out in Italy, there are 160 projects carried out all over the world: Europe, North, and South America, Africa, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Asia. There are different types of documents describing the creative, technical, and administrative process of the projects conceived by Nervi: sketches, technical drawings, calculations, manuscripts and typescripts, correspondence, newspaper cuttings, positives and negatives on paper, photo albums, plates, audio and video recordings, a model. The most consistent nucleus is represented by the photographic documentation (over 11,000 documentary units including photographs, negatives, specimens, plates, and slides) that well documents the projects and activities of the studio, also through precious construction site photographs. In particular, the more than 4,000 photographs mounted on cardboard index cards (photo cards) document the various stages of the work, from the initial drawings to the various building site phases to the finished building, to the inauguration, as if it were a photographic ‘logbook’.
More than 2,000 slides, with their corresponding specimens and photographic prints mounted on albums, make up an invaluable collection of Nervi’s projects, as well as general topics (general construction, religious buildings, sports buildings, shipbuilding, bridges, etc.) and were used by the architect for teaching and/or study purposes. The archive also offers detailed documentation of the company’s activities. For more than 300 projects, there is technical documentation (contracts, calculations, accounts) that well represents the activity of the firm and the company.