Abstract:

The theme of preservation and reuse of historical buildings represents a design challenge which today is unavoidable.
Entire urban areas (both central and peripheric) need an afterthought about the role and the functions that they could assume in order to contribute significantly to the valorisation/revitalisation of the consolidated urban fabric.
Starting from these premises, the paper presents the methodological approach elaborated in the Continuing Education Course “Preservation Reuse Design of Historical Architecture”, activated by the Department of Structural Engineering of Politecnico di Milano. This approach is oriented, from the pedagogical point of view, to the development of the meta-design capacity of the student, respect to the theme of the historical constructions.
As a didactic and research experimentation field - on which applies the elaborated methodology - some areas of the historic centre of Beijing have been chosen, which were recently subjected to architectural and urban transformation. In this context it is clearly evident the necessary multidisciplinary approach, which should characterize the architect's educational experience.
In particular, the main disciplinary contributions are:
- project of knowledge (analytical phase) of the stratified artefact (evolutionary historical analysis, reading of socio-economic contexts, geometrical survey, materials, degradation and disarray of the artefact, evaluation of the environmental comfort levels);
- Preservation and reuse project (design principles based on an architecture for the historical constructions);
- technological, structural and constructive aspects of the reuse design (construction details, with particular attention to the contact areas among new and existent building, structural consolidation, integration of technical systems aimed at improving the comfort situation).

The paper is organized in five parts:
- The first part briefly explains the area in which the studied is focused on (traditional districts of the Beijing’s historic centre), highlighting their architectural and urban role in the contemporary city.
- The second part presents an analytical study about some significative design experience of the last 10 years. In particular, the section will be structured by following the project phases: concept, project, construction site, finished work.
- The third part focus on the didactic methodology called "Design of Historical Architecture: Mutidisciplinary Approach” (DHAMA) aimed to identifying meta-design paradigms. This approach is presented by considering: theoretical articulation, operational premise, teaching implications and preliminary results.
- The fourth part aims at defining "transverse conceptual probes" for the evaluation of architectural interventions starting from a multidisciplinary approach (comfort, shape, function, material, living volume and the overall quality of the intervention).
- The fifth part, that concludes the paper, shows implications of the research methodology "DHAMA" over the student's educational experience; in particular, it highlights the ability to develop scenarios for the “design for the historical constructions”.

Keywords:

Architecture, cultural heritage, analysis, hutong, meta-design.