L’uso dell’acciaio nelle sperimentazioni italiane in “tensistruttura”

At the beginning of the Thirties in Italy started, in the field of constructions, an important steel experimentation, on the one hand focused on the link between construction aspect and architectural languages, on the other hand based on the experiment of new constructive systems. In addition to the most common steel structures (such as the steel nave of the central Station in Milano, the industrial buildings for Pirelli Society at the Bicocca with a metal frame fully welded, the new seat in Torino of the Royal mutual Society of insurance and the building for offices and flats in Via Roma of the same society on a progect by Melis and Bernocco realized from 1933 to 1935, Feltrinelli’s house in Milano), Guido Fiorini’s researches about the “tensistruttura” theme are very intresting. In particular, the “tensistruttura” is a static steel device, which employs the use of steel rods in order to discharge the weight on a central compressed core. This system is used by Fiorini to project different building types, as hanger, multi-storey residences and skyscrapers. These events, which tend to facilitate a new kind of research in the field of buildings, are not enough to let the steel culture go into the custom of building. In fact, Fiorini’s experimentations themselves remain unrealized projects. In any way, the discussion about steel architecture, in the modernization process, remains one of the most interesting and fascinating phase of metal building, for which it is important to carry out further and more complete studies. The aim of this paper is to underline the significant angles of metal building events in the Thirties in Italy, with particular reference to Fiorini’s work, supported by the analysis of projects and representative buildings.