The Italian socio-historical framework of precast construction in the second half of the 20th century

The events that have given nearly exclusive prominence to concrete precasting techniques since the second half of the 20th century (at least in Italy) in the production of industrial buildings offer a chance to create an engaging overview of the industrialization of the construction sector. This overview cannot be separated from brief recollections of previous decades as well as a glance at contemporary developments. Unlike the housing sector, industrial precasting does not suffer from the obstructionism of complacent builders towards traditional technologies, the distrust demonstrated by many architects toward the ideologization and politicization of principles, or, ultimately, the confinement to a low-cost, low-quality building market. The survey begins in the 1920s when a strongly rational approach to building design and production processes emerged and mainly focuses on the post-World War II period, when industrial construction encouraged experimentation and developed avant-garde techniques, achieving significant results across various fields of application.