Riccardo Morandi
Encyclopedia
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
best known for his interesting use of reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
. Amongst his best known works were the General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge
General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge
The General Rafael Urdaneta Bridge is located at the outlet of Lake Maracaibo, in western Venezuela. The bridge connects Maracaibo with much of the rest of the country...
, an 8 km crossing of Lake Maracaibo
Lake Maracaibo
Lake Maracaibo is a large brackish bay in Venezuela at . It is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela by Tablazo Strait at the northern end, and fed by numerous rivers, the largest being the Catatumbo. It is commonly considered a lake rather than a bay or lagoon, and at 13,210 km² it would be the...
incorporating seven cable-stayed bridge
Cable-stayed bridge
A cable-stayed bridge is a bridge that consists of one or more columns , with cables supporting the bridge deck....
spans with unusual piers, and the Subterranean Automobile Showroom in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
.
Career
Morandi was born in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
.
Following graduation in 1927, Morandi gained experience in Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
working with reinforced concrete in earthquake damaged areas. On his return to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
to open his own office, he continued with his technical exploration of reinforced and prestressed concrete structures and embarked on the design of a series of novel cinema structures and bridges. His numerous later works include his work on the Fiumicino Airport, Rome, in 1970 and a bridge in Barranquilla
Barranquilla
Barranquilla is an industrial port city and municipality located in northern Colombia, near the Caribbean Sea. The capital of the Atlántico Department, it is the largest industrial city and port in the Colombian Caribbean region with a population of 1,148,506 as of 2005, which makes it Colombia's...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
in 1972.
Morandi was also appointed professor in bridge design both at the University of Florence
University of Florence
The University of Florence is a higher study institute in Florence, central Italy. One of the largest and oldest universities in the country, it consists of 12 faculties...
and the University of Rome
University of Rome La Sapienza
The Sapienza University of Rome, officially Sapienza – Università di Roma, formerly known as Università degli studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a coeducational, autonomous state university in Rome, Italy...
.
- Ponte Amerigo VespucciPonte Amerigo VespucciPonte Amerigo Vespucci is a bridge over the Arno River in Florence, Italy and named after Florence-born explorer Amerigo Vespucci. It joins the Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci to the Lungarno Soderini. To the east is the Ponte alla Carraia....
, Florence, Italy, 1957 - Fiumarella Viaduct, Catanzaro, Italy, 1960
- Kinnaird Bridge, Canada, 1960
- Polcevera Viaduct, GenoaGenoaGenoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, Italy, 1968, four cable-stayed spans (maximum 280 m) - Wadi el Kuf BridgeWadi el Kuf BridgeWadi el Kuf Bridge, is a bridge located 20 km west of Bayda, Libya. It's the second highest bridge in Africa. It was designed by Italian civil engineer Riccardo Morandi. The bridge project has begun on 1967, and has been accomplished on 1972....
, LibyaLibyaLibya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
, 1971, three cable-stayed spans (for 7 years, its 281 m central span was the longest concrete cable-stayed bridge span in the world) - Carpineto Bridge, Potenza, Italy, 1973, three cable-stayed spans
- BarranquillaBarranquillaBarranquilla is an industrial port city and municipality located in northern Colombia, near the Caribbean Sea. The capital of the Atlántico Department, it is the largest industrial city and port in the Colombian Caribbean region with a population of 1,148,506 as of 2005, which makes it Colombia's...
Bridge, Magdalena RiverMagdalena RiverThe Magdalena River is the principal river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of its lower reaches, in spite of the shifting sand bars at the mouth of its delta, as...
, Colombia, 1974
Morandi's cable-stayed bridges are characterised by very few stays, often as few as two per span, and often with the stays constructed from prestressed concrete
Prestressed concrete
Prestressed concrete is a method for overcoming concrete's natural weakness in tension. It can be used to produce beams, floors or bridges with a longer span than is practical with ordinary reinforced concrete...
rather than the more usual steel cables. Although these bridges are often impressive, they are less economic than bridges with multiple stays and have therefore been of little influence on other engineers.