Abstract:

Our work aims to introduce a possible methodological approach for Reuse Projects of damaged buildings. Such approach was the subject of a workshop on Post-seismic Conservation Project in Umbria (Italy), organized within an academic course named LEVD (Lighting, Energy and Virtual Design) and applied to four different projects carried out by our research groups. The project experiences were the following: A Reuse design for historical buildings in rural areas; an Open space design concerning new collective spaces; an Interior design for building spaces devoted to the presentation and tasting of local products and a Nature trails design for the use and valorization of local landscape resources. Given the particular situation of the Umbria region, hit by a strong earthquake in 1997, a traditional analysis of the site, based on the reading of documents, historical-geographical maps and the observation of photo-books, is not enough to understand at a deep level the area and identify its actual problems. The reason is that earthquakes, such as other natural destructive events, bring about a loss of urban identity through the sudden destruction of material testimonies, gathered and layered on historical buildings. Site identity needs therefore to be researched through different new sources such as the direct interaction with its inhabitants, to understand the community needs and building owners’ expectations, and become acquainted with the shared local knowledge and cultural practices. Other research tools are surveys on site and the comparison with similar study cases. The comparison between areas subjected to similar interventions and the project area, carried out through a direct observation, allows to find out the common and differing elements and point out the specificity of the area, tied to buildings identity. Essential to this approach is teamwork: an important moment of dialogue to share different points of view and find out intervention solutions, suitable to the specificity of the area. The project is then presented by team members to the community to verify the consistency between the interventions suggested and the actual community needs and bring to interventions, respectful of site identity and local culture.
The Research Group from the Faculty of Civil Architecture of the “Politecnico di Milano” is composed of: Emanuela Grimi, Sara Incerti, Silvia Meazza, Sara Moretti, Marco Moscone, Alessandro Triulzi.