"Società Nazionale Officine di Savigliano": the history through case studies

Società Nazionale Officine di Savigliano was a company specialized in railway constructions, metallic bridges and mechanical and electrical constructions. Between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the company became well known in Europe especially for metallic constructions, having built the majority of metal bridges in the north of Italy such as the famous Paderno bridge (1887-1889), one of the biggest arch bridge for the period. In the 1930s, the company built some interesting examples of steel frame buildings, applying the electrical welding technique, acquired in industrial constructions, to civil buildings. The steel frame was quite rare in Italian buildings, especially in the matter of civil constructions and Savigliano made an effort in modernizing the Italian construction system, through research and innovation. The paper will discuss some examples of Savigliano’s works dating back to 1930, and in particular, it will present a specific example never studied before: the hangar at the Elmas military airport, in Cagliari (Sardinia). The building is worth mentioning for the innovations experimented, as the new welding technique allowed a series of improvements in the construction process.