Pirelli Tower

{{Infobox building

|name = Pirelli Tower

| native_name = {{native name|it|Torre Pirelli}}

|image = Looking up at Torre Pirelli from Piazza Duca d'Aosta, Milan.jpg

|image_alt = A narrow, unornamented skyscraper with blue-green glass windows in the middle and a tapered metallic skin on the sides rising above some trees at ground level against a blue sky

|image_caption = East elevation from Piazza Duca d'Aosta, 2016

| map_type = Italy Milan Central

| map_alt = A map of Milan with a red dot in the northeast quadrant of the city centre

| map_caption = Location within Milan

| map_size =

|alternate_names = Pirellone
Pirelli Tower

|location = Via Fabio Filzi, 22
Milan, Italy

|coordinates = {{coord|45|29|05|N|9|12|05|E|region:IT-MI|display=inline,title}}

| building_type = Commercial offices

| architectural_style = Modernism

| status = Complete

|start_date = 1956

|completion_date = 1958

|antenna_spire = {{convert|127|m|abbr=on}}

|roof = {{convert|124|m|abbr=on}}

|top_floor = {{convert|113|m|abbr=on}}

| floor_count = 32
2 below ground

|floor_area = {{convert|24000|m2}}

|elevator_count = 6

|architect = Giò Ponti
Pier Luigi Nervi

|main_contractor = Pirelli & C. SpA

|developer =

|owner = Regional Government of Lombardy

| references = {{CTBUH|4633}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/110920 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423003921/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/110920 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=April 23, 2016 |title=Emporis building ID 110920 |work=Emporis}}{{SkyscraperPage|906}}{{Structurae|20000246}}

}}

Pirelli Tower (Italian: Grattacielo Pirelli – also called "Pirellone", literally "Big Pirelli") is a 32-storey, {{convert|127|m|abbr=on}} skyscraper in Milan, Italy. The base of the building is {{convert|1900|m2|abbr=on}}, with a length of {{convert|75.5|m|abbr=on}} and a width of {{convert|20.5|m|abbr=on}}.Il cielo in una stanza, informative brochure from Lombardy Region. The construction used approximately {{convert|30000|m3|abbr=on}} of concrete. The building weighs close to {{convert|70000|t|abbr=on}} with a volume of {{convert|125324|m3|abbr=on}}.

Characterized by a structural skeleton, curtain wall façades and tapered sides, it was among the first skyscrapers to abandon the customary block form.{{cite book| editor1-last=Sharp| editor1-first=Dennis| title=The Illustrated encyclopedia of architects and architecture| date=1 September 1991| publisher=Whitney Library of Design| location=New York| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foxUAAAAMAAJ&q=pirelli+tower| isbn=978-0823025398| page=124| edition=first| access-date=3 September 2017|url-access=subscription }} After its completion it was the tallest building in Italy{{cite web| title=AD Classics: Pirelli Tower / Gio Ponti, Pier Luigi Nervi| url=http://www.archdaily.com/481062/ad-classics-pirelli-tower-gio-ponti-pier-luigi-nervi| first=Denim| last=Pascucci| website=ArchDaily| access-date=28 November 2016| date=27 February 2014}} until 1961, when the restoration of the Mole Antonelliana's pinnacle was done. The architectural historian Hasan-Uddin Khan praised it as "one of the most elegant tall buildings in the world" and as one of the "few tall European buildings [that made] statements that added to the vocabulary of the skyscraper".{{cite book| last1=Khan| first1=Hasan-Uddin| title=International style: modernist architecture from 1925 to 1965| date=1 May 1998| publisher=Taschen| location=Köln [Germany]| isbn=978-3822882603| access-date=2 September 2017| page=231|url-access=subscription | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L-lPAAAAMAAJ&q=pirelli+tower}}

The building inspired the Pan Am Building (now MetLife Building) in New York, the National Mutual West Plaza in Auckland and the Banco Sabadell Tower in Barcelona.{{cite book| last1=Kirk| first1=Terry| title=Visions of Utopia, 1900 – present| date=1 September 2005| publisher=Princeton Architectural| location=New York City| isbn=978-1568984360| page=170| edition=first| access-date=28 November 2016| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rRf868dq7gAC&q=pirelli+tower}}

History

In 1950, Alberto Pirelli, president and owner of the giant Pirelli tyre company, ordered that a skyscraper be built in the area where the corporation's first factory was located in the 19th century. The project was developed by architect Gio Ponti, with the assistance of Pier Luigi Nervi and Arturo Danusso.

Construction of the tower began in 1956, when Italy was experiencing an economic boom. The tower was to be surrounded by low-lying buildings on a pentagonal plot of land. Upon its completion in 1958, it became a symbol not only of Milan, but also of the economic recovery of Italy after the devastation of World War II. At {{convert|127|m|abbr=on}}, it was the tallest building in Italy after Mole Antonelliana until 1995. The company sold the building to the Lombardy regional government in 1978.

Incidents

= 2002 plane crash =

On the afternoon of 18 April 2002, a Rockwell Commander 112 single-engine airplane registered in Switzerland hit the building. The aircraft was apparently scheduled to fly from Locarno to Milan. The plane was low on fuel and Linate Airport was preparing an emergency landing prior to the crash, but the pilot suddenly strayed and crashed into the building. The pilot and two people inside the tower were killed in the accident. Two goals of the restoration work were to maintain the structural and artistic integrity of the building and to upgrade its status as an executive headquarters by introducing new support services and technological systems.{{citation| first=Alessandro Pergoli| last=Campanelli| url=https://www.academia.edu/7071879| title=Restoration of the facade of the Pirelli skyscraper in Milan| work=Frontiers of Architectural Research| date=25 March 2014| issue=3| pages=212–223| issn=2095-2643}}