Architecture (Conservation)

DANIELA ESPOSITO

The course aims to convey to students the theoretical and instrumental knowledge necessary to manage, with full awareness, the development of anarchitectural executive project of a space of limited size, to verify the compatibility of the formal intentions with the complex economic constraints andfunctional, structural, technological and engineering solutions. In this context, the compliance of the construction project is systematically investigated,identifying the different components and checking the feasibility of design solutions.

Basic knowledge of restoration theory and history; ensuring relevant skills in historical and structural investigation of architecture, interpretation and diagnosis of deterioration phenomena, and conservation intervention; information on regulatory aspects, including cataloguing issues; competence in drafting restoration project plans.

General preparation with no mandatory prerequisites

1. Course content

1.1. Objectives

To provide basic knowledge of restoration theory and history; to ensure relevant skills in historical and constructive investigation of architecture, reading and diagnosis of degradation phenomena, and conservation intervention; to provide information on regulatory aspects, including cataloguing issues; to provide training in the drafting of restoration project documents.

1.2. Teaching method

Lectures
Traditional lectures on methodological and more general issues will be supplemented by laboratory work on practical and technical topics related to the specific issues raised by the exercise topic.
Brief description of the lecture topics:
a. General issues: basic definitions and terminology.
b. The scope of restoration, from individual objects to the territory.
c. The relationship between the various arts: “restoration” and “monument restoration”.
d. The theoretical basis of restoration. The most recent methodological proposals.
e. The dialectic between critical process and creative act in restoration.
f. Relationship between technical choices and historical respect for the monument.
g. The deterioration of structures and materials: causes and processes.
h. Modern materials and restoration.
i. The conservation programme; the restoration project.
l. General rules for the restoration of monuments. The “Charter” of restoration.

Laboratory and practical exercises
Study of a monument, or a significant part thereof, that presents conservation problems and allows for direct surveying, philological and historical-critical analysis, analysis of structural and material deterioration, and experimentation with well-founded proposals for intervention.
Preference is given to small-scale, isolated subjects that can be inspected, especially in external walls (the most significant from a historical point of view), stratified, suffering from neglect or improper use. There are therefore no course topics, but criteria established by the course for the selection of didactically effective topics.
In addition, the course favours the possible re-proposal of topics already covered in the exams “Construction characteristics of historic buildings and restoration problems” or “Consolidation of historic buildings” and “Theory and techniques for restoration”, if adequately explored.

2. Examination methods

The assessment of students' results will be conducted partly during the course (including written tests focusing mainly on the theoretical and conceptual aspects of the subject) and partly at the end of the course, through individual examinations.
After an interview on the topics covered in the lectures and in the basic bibliography, there will be a discussion of the exercises and then of the final project, which will have been continuously reviewed throughout the semester.
In fact, enrolment in the examination is subject to obtaining a signature of attendance and a favourable outcome of a final review of the work carried out.


3. Exercises and required work

The required exercises, while tailored to the specific nature of the chosen topic, must comply with the following general provisions:
- preparation of black and white or colour charts in A1 format (59.4x84.1 cm);
- production of a copy of the aforementioned boards in A3 format (29.7x42 cm);
- presentation, at the final examination, of a maximum of 16-18 boards, depending on the chosen topic and the size of the study group;
- drafting of a short written report - on A3 format boards, obtained by placing two A4 sheets (21x29.7 cm) side by side on each sheet - containing:
a) a concise description of the artefact (1 sheet, 30 lines of 65 characters each);
b) a chronology, with direct references to the bibliography and archival register (1-2 pages);
c) a historical-critical summary (2-3 pages);
d) a technical-critical report on the characterisation of materials and issues of analysis
of degradation, conservation and design (2-3 pages);
e) the archival-documentary register;
f) the bibliography;
g) essential photographic documentation (5-6 pages);
h) any appendices with archival documents (transcripts or photographic copies).

The entire apparatus of direct philological analysis of the monument, up to its historical-critical and diagnostic conclusions, must not remain an end in itself but must be considered with particular attention to the “restoration project”. This cannot be limited to a simple identification of problems or a feasibility study, but must address issues of authentic preliminary, definitive and executive design, with all the methodological, technical, educational and architectural implications that this entails.
It must therefore address the preliminary analysis of the range of new, possible functions that are compatible with the protection of the architectural asset (research into the “uses” of the building), then illustrate the general proposal for the restoration of the building as a whole (using drawings on a scale of 1:200 to 1:50), structural checks and proposals for consolidation, physical-technical environmental and plant engineering proposals (from traditional plumbing and electrical systems to any systems for capturing and using renewable energy), construction details (scales from 1:20 to 1:1, as required), and proposals for conservation work on surfaces and materials.
Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide further details, even if brief, in terms of the economic evaluation of the planned works, the schedule for the works themselves and a final ‘scheduled maintenance plan’.
The development of the study and the written and graphic documents will be monitored periodically by the teaching staff. The examination discussion will take place both on the A1 format boards and on the other A3 format boards; these must not be folded or bound, but loose sheets, preferably contained in a transparent plastic envelope.
The boards must be numbered consecutively and include, among other information (university and its logo, faculty and its logo, laboratory, lecturer, academic year, study topic, subject of the individual board), the full names of the authors.
A copy of the work in A3 format will be retained for the course archive.

C. BRANDI, Teoria del restauro, Torino, Einaudi, 1977 (1° ed. Storia e Letteratura, 1963);
G. CARBONARA, Avvicinamento al restauro. Teoria, storia, monumenti, Liguori, Napoli 1997;
voce Restauro in ENCICLOPEDIA Universale dell’Arte, vol. XI, Venezia-Roma, 1963, coll. 322-353.

Traditional lectures on methodological and more general issues will be supplemented by laboratory work on practical and technical topics related to the specific issues raised by the exercise topic.

Attendance is compulsory as this is a design workshop in architectural restoration. Attendance in person, in the classroom and on educational visits.

The assessment of students' achievements will be conducted partly during the course (including written tests focusing mainly on the theoretical and conceptual aspects of the subject) and partly at the end of the course, through individual examinations.
After an interview on the topics covered in the lectures and in the basic bibliography, there will be a discussion of the exercises and then of the final project, which will have been continuously reviewed during the semester.
In fact, enrolment in the examination is subject to obtaining a signature of attendance and a favourable outcome of a final review of the work carried out.

Theoretical approaches to contemporary restoration.
The concept of architectural lacunae.
Description of the historical-critical study method applied to the monument under investigation.
Criteria in restoration.

• In the first term, content relating to terminology and theoretical aspects underpinning conservation will be taught. Educational visits will be organised to support the theory.
  • Books: voce Restauro in ENCICLOPEDIA Universale dell’Arte, vol. XI,
    
    Venezia-Roma, 1963, coll. 322-353.


• In the second term, students will proceed with the selection and initial research on the topics chosen for the operational implementation of the Architectural Restoration Laboratory. Study method guidelines for the entire research process aimed at gaining knowledge of architectural works.
  • Books: G.
    
    CARBONARA, Avvicinamento al restauro.
    
    Teoria, storia, monumenti, Liguori, Napoli 1997


• In the first term of the second semester, students will address various aspects of the method of analysing and interpreting monuments, starting with their survey and continuing with direct and indirect investigations of the monuments. Participation in educational visits to restoration sites and on-site inspections to experience the various stages of cataloguing and interpreting monuments.
  • Books: G. CARBONARA, Avvicinamento al restauro. Teoria, storia, monumenti, Liguori, Napoli 1997


• In the second quarter of the second semester, students will proceed with the development of studies on the topics chosen in the Laboratory and will proceed with the reading and critical analysis in the classroom of Cesare Brandi's Theory of Restoration.
  • Books: C.
    
    BRANDI, Teoria del restauro, Torino,
    
    Einaudi, 1977 (1° ed. Storia e Letteratura, 1963)