Il complesso Olivetti a Massa. Una storia di sperimentazione costruttiva

The paper contributes to the field of research on the evolution of Twentieth-century construction techniques in Italy, with a specific focus on the roofing solutions adopted for workspaces. The study analyses the case of the Olivetti Synthesis plant in Massa, designed by Piero Bottoni and Mario Pucci. The architectural complex unfolds within the distinctive Olivetti microcosm. Its genesis began in 1940, drawing on construction rationalisation techniques developed during the autarkic period, and continued until the 1980s, when the spread of standardised prefabricated systems came to prevail over the experimentation that had characterised the previous decades. The article specifically examines the roofing solutions used in several buildings within the Olivetti plant: the reinforced brick vaults adopted by Bottoni and Pucci for the original facility (1940-1942); the reinforced concrete vaults chosen by Bottoni for the building expansions of the early 1950s; the mushroom-shaped pillars cast in situ with mechanized formwork for the new warehouses commissioned in 1970 from the Borini company of Turin.