Conceived as a service station, engineer Giuseppe Pettazzi designed a building that resembles an aeroplane incorporating a central tower with office space, cashiers desk and shop — and supporting a pair of 18m cantilevered, reinforced concrete wings. The building is still structurally sound after 75 years, surviving to multiple conflicts in the region.
During construction, local authorities required each wing to be supported by pillars. However, Pettazzi maintained the supports were unnecessary and reportedly settled the argument by threatening to kill the contractor (or himself, according to one version) if the supports were not removed:
“When Pettazzi inaugurated Fiat Tagliero service station in 1938, he stunned onlookers by pulling out a gun. There, the story behind Africa’s finest piece of Futurist architecture goes hazy. In one version, Pettazzi stood defiantly on one of his 18m concrete “wings”—used as decorative shades for cars entering the garage—and threatened to kill himself should the structure collapse as wooden supports were pulled away. In another, the excitable architect held the gun to the head of a disbelieving builder, who had hesitated to pull away the struts for fear the long slabs would tumble down. Either way, the wings stayed up, nobody was shot, and Pettazzi’s design skills were vindicated.”
More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_Tagliero_Building
Photo source
