A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH FOR THE PRESERVATION-REUSE DESIGN OF RURAL BUILDINGS IN ITALY THE CASE STUDY OF “CASCINA PAGNANA”

Our work aims to present a methodological approach for Conservation and Reuse projects, applied to some Italian rural buildings: farmhouses abandoned during the Sixties and recently subjected to restoration works. Planning any intervention on an existing building needs a deep knowledge of its composition, its structure and function and, on the other hand, any connection between what already existing and what is new. One of the main features of the methodology presented hereby, applicable both to general and specific cases, is the integration among different disciplines that contribute to define an intervention suited to the specificity of the building. Such methodological approach consists of different stages of analysis, ranging from the study of the place to the identification of the peculiar aspects of the area and the building. Materials, construction techniques and sustainability are also under review. All information and data collected bring to a complete knowledge of the building. The presented methodological procedures were the subject of a workshop that took place thanks to the collaboration of the Faculty of Civil Architecture of the Polytechnic of Milan and the E.N.A.I.P. Foundation. On this occasion such procedures were adopted for planning an Intervention Project on a farmhouse in Gorgonzola (Milan, North Italy), where, among the possible uses of rural buildings, co-housing was the one considered. The Research Group of the Faculty of Civil Architecture of “Politecnico di Milano” is composed of: Deborah Campana, Marco Clerici, Stefania Nardo.