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Morandi, Riccardo
(b Rome, 1 Sept 1902; d Rome, 25 Dec 1989). Italian engineer and teacher. Having graduated from the Scuola di Applicazione per Ingegneri in Rome in 1927, he began to specialize in structural calculation and technological experimentation, his research focusing on problems in the calculation, design and construction of large structures. He became chiefly concerned with the design and building of constructions in reinforced concrete, and he paid particular attention to the innovative aspects of this technology, especially the use of pre-stressed reinforced concrete. His work can be linked to the strain of constructional rationalism originating in 19th-century designs for bridges, viaducts, factories and large-span roofing, as well as to the 20th-century works of Pier Luigi Nervi, Robert Maillart, Félix Candela and Eduardo Torroja y Miret, with whom Morandi contributed to the transformation of reinforced concrete from a purely structural medium to an instrument of architectural expression. Morandi’s works often appear as features within the landscape, characterizing the surrounding area. One of his most famous executed projects is the bridge (1957–62) on Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, which is c. 9 km long, with five central spans of 235 m each and with trestles 100 m high. In Italy he built, among other projects, the terminal (1957–60; with Vincenzo Monaco and Amedeo Luccichenti) for the Leonardo da Vinci Airport, Fiumicino, Rome, and numerous bridges for the Autostrada del Sole, and the motorway viaduct (1960–65) over the River Polcevera near Genoa. He also collaborated with Gustavo Colonnetti and Piero Gazzola on the project (1961; unexecuted) for the raising of the temples at Abu Simbel in Egypt, and he taught at the universities of Florence, Rome and Florida.
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