Lecture hall of the library of Bocconi University

Milan – 1962

Architecture: Giovanni Muzio and Lorenzo Muzio
Structures: Aldo Favini
Contractor: Impresa Mario Tamburini, Milan
Client: Università Bocconi, Milan
Not built

Lecture hall with square plan, 19.5 m x 19.5 m, for an area of 380 m2, in the basement of the library of Bocconi University.

Structural scheme
Prestressed ribbed plate slab simply resting on perimeter beams.

«…Exceptional in size, this square slab, 20 x 20 meters, was developed for the ceiling of the lecture hall in the library of a university in Milan; it is also designed to sustain the additional high load of a reading room above it. The floor slab is composed of two series of ribs arranged according to the lines of the main bending moments, with a height of just 80 cm, small slab connecting the ribs themselves, with a height of 7 cm, that forms the deck on which to walk. The form of this structure comes from a mathematical solution to the problem of plates: the strong material, reinforced concrete in this case, is concentrated along two series of congruent lines and forms a sort of honeycomb pattern whose bearing behavior does not differ at all from that of a full-plate slab; in this way, however, the structure with the inert material removed becomes much lighter. This is not a purely abstract conception: we find it practically achieved in those natural elastic bodies that are our bones. It is well known, in fact, that the arrangement of the trabeculae of bones is not accidental, but is admirably connected to the stresses to which they are subjected. Once again, nature has guided scientific research.»

From “Domus”, 420.

Publications
• Un solaio in cemento armato precompresso, “Domus”, n. 420, 1964.

  • Anno
    1962
  • Tipologia
    Collaborations, Highlights
  • Architetto
    Giovanni e Lorenzo Muzio