Building industrialization and aesthetic research in the Esso and SGI headquarters in EUR (Rome) by Luigi Moretti and Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo (1960-66)

This essay is related to the studies on the building techniques evolution in the twentieth century with particular reference to the Italian context. It is part of the research that the authors are conducting on the relationship between the use of the metallic construction techniques and the development of the Italian architecture in the second part of the twentieth century. The investigation proposed in this abstract is based on documents of Moretti’s and Società Generale Immobiliare archives and concerns the design and construction process of twin office buildings, intended for the Esso and Società Generale Immobiliare (SGI) headquarters, designed by the Italian architects Luigi Moretti and Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo and built in Eur (the district founded in the South area of Rome to celebrate the Esposizione Universale Romana of 1942). The design process started in 1960, but the buildings were completed after a few years (1966-1969). The preliminary project of the two architects was completed by the technicians of SGI, the international real estate company founded in Rome at the end of the 19th century. At the entrance to the EUR district, the buildings, 27 meters high, had a T-shaped plan, and two underground levels. The designers combined reinforced concrete structure for the underground part with the steel framed technique for the upper floors. The authors aim to examine, through the observation of two Roman buildings, the Italian modernization process of building techniques and of architectural language linked to the spread of the metal construction in the national background (first in Milan and then in Rome). This transformation is proved by few but significant buildings, representative of the Italian approach to topics typical of the international architectural and construction research, such as the building industrialization, the standardization of spaces and the consequent prefabrication of construction components. The Roman complex, and the Esso headquarters in particular, were part of this cultural and technological frame. The existing studies on the two buildings concern the work of Moretti and are related to the history of architecture field; while we can consider only preliminary and partial analyses of their construction characters. Starting from the existing literature and through the use of archives documents, the authors intend to investigate the relationship between Moretti's formal choices and the technological definition of the steel frame structure and of the curtain wall. In the authors' opinion, in fact, the comparison between the themes of standardization of spaces (functional layout on square mesh 9x9 meters based on 1.50 meter module) and industrialization of techniques (steel structure, mobile partitions, ceiling systems, curtain wall) and the traces of the aesthetic research typical of Moretti's modus operandi is a topic of interest to enhance the knowledge of these two works and of the correspondence established by Moretti between architecture and construction techniques.