Parabeton - Pier Luigi Nervi and Roman Concrete

PARABETON begins with the first still existing dome made of Roman concrete in Baiae near Naples, built in the 1st century B.C. This is followed in chronological order by seventeen buildings still preserved in Italy and France by the Italian civil engineer Pier Luigi Nervi (1891-1979). Nervi, as the inventor of style-forming constructions, is the grandmaster of concrete construction and the architect's architect of the 20th century. The sequence of Nervi's buildings is interrupted by film studies of ancient buildings made of Roman concrete from the first centuries after Christ. The film thus combines Nervi's bold constructions with the groundbreaking Roman inventions of two thousand years ago. (Heinz Emigholz)