Parabeton – Pier Luigi Nervi und Römische Beton

Part 19 is the first Photography and Beyond feature to consider its auteur within an allegorical framework. Parabeton – Pier Luigi Nervi and Roman Concrete explores 15 buildings created from plans drawn up by Pier Luigi Nervi (occasionally with a fellow architect) alongside another nine erected by anonymous Roman master builders between the 1st century BC and the 4th AD. Are the latter mere remnants, or time capsules in concrete? Are we coming back to a moment in time – if we ever left it, that is? Concrete, here, becomes the essence of civilization. The last Nervi building is the Papal Audience Hall, the final Roman Mausoleum. Sic transit gloria mundi, forever and ever, Amen. Still, there’s something exhilarating and uplifting in all these buildings – an early springlike breeze; time and again pleasantly warm and soothing sunlight, reminiscent of the air in Sullivan’s Banks.