Unexpected Architectures. Restorations in Romagna Between the Two World Wars

The research here presented is a critical appraisal of some restoration works carried out between the two World Wars in a particular geographic context, which is the Romagna district, in the Northeast of Italy. Starting from two case studies (the Casa del Fascio in Forl\uec and the Malatesta Library in Cesena) and thanks to the analysis of bibliographical sources, archival documents, and drawings, this research aims at understanding how broader and major theories about architectural restoration are articulated in peripheral background. What emerges are unexpected results: Late and deeply contextualized operations, strongly linked with the national panorama but at the same time chasing for the revival of their own history

DISCOVERING AND COMMUNICATING THE RATIONALIST ARCHITECTURE OF FORLÌ. AN INTEGRATED PROCESS

A partnership between the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna and ATRIUM aimed at enhancing the knowledge and communication of the rationalist architecture, built in the city of Forlì during the Fascist regime. The importance of finding an interpretative key for this dissonant heritage, bearers of an “uncomfortable” memory but at the same time able to strongly characterize the architectural quality of cities, was a primary goal.The cooperation started with the development of a pilot project regarding three architectures considered iconic for this context but also able to foster more complex urban policies. The first deliverable of the programme was the search, record, and management of the archival materials related to the whole history of these buildings. The enormous amount of data acquired revealed the importance of working on a dual track, aimed at both the stakeholders involved in the management process of this heritage and those who experience it.For what concerns the “technical level” which is related to the knowledge field, the first challenge was to understand how to manage information boosting interoperability, guaranteeing easy access and above all making the research implementable. According to the “touristic level” instead, a further objective of the project was related to the communication of this heritage to a varied audience of visitors.</p

Giuseppe Vaccaro tra sperimentazione e conservazione. La Facoltà di Ingegneria di Bologna (1933-1935)

During the two decades of the Fascist period in Italy, Giuseppe Vaccaro interpreted the constant architectural tension between the rhetoric of Roman revivalism and an unadorned modernity: a taut contrast which he expressed by interweaving experiments in composition, materials and techniques, allowing him to achieve what his mentor Marcello Piacentini defined as a “definitive monumentality”, in the form of “uniquely Italian works”. In those years, the Emilia-Romagna region, and especially Bologna, the architect’s native city, hosted an intensive series of studies, projects and initiatives of both private and public construction that furthered the development of such experiments, including the Agip seaside children’s hostel in Cesenatico, numerous homes in the regional seat of Bologna and the surrounding area, as well as districts of public housing, such as the Barca neighbourhood, plus the four buildings commissioned by the Cooperative of War Invalids and, most significantly, the Department of Engineering. Located near the city’s historic core, next to an urban area with an abundance of vegetation, Bologna’s university facility provides evidence of how the construction successfully manifested not only the innovations of the period, in terms of forms and materials, but also the continuity, over time, of the function for which the complex had originally been designed. The surfaces of this majestic, sophisticated architectural work alternately employ traditional construction materials, along with others produced industrially. Innovative materials that serve as invaluable evidence of the research and architectural methods of Italy’s period of self-reliant autarchy can also be found among the insulation fittings and the decorative furnishings developed for the complex, not to mention the extensive but thin fixtures supplied by the well-known local firm of Curti S.A. The attention focussed on the structure’s lighting is confirmed by the plant-engineering features, worthy of note not only for their painstaking electrical design, but also the innovative systems of ventilation and inter-floor connection. Starting with an overview of the techniques employed by the Bologna-born architect during his experimentation with design in those years, the essay takes an in-depth look at the innovative features and materials of the Department of Engineering of the University of Bologna, highlighting what remains today, as well as the related issues of preservation, all with an eye towards safeguarding the complex, which is still used as the site of the University’s School of Engineering and Architecture

Monumento ai Caduti e alla Vittoria: esperienze di cantiere nel restauro di un'opera del Novecento forlivese

The present contribution focuses on the recent restoration of the “Monumento ai Caduti” in Piazzale della Vittoria in Forlì, with reference to the approach, methods, and techniques of the intervention. Designed in 1925 by the Roman architect and engineer Cesare Bazzani, the monument serves as a visual landmark and had a key role during the Fascist regime. The latest restorations highlight the transition from workshop-based interventions to scientific laboratory operations and led to virtuous outcomes. In particular, the knowledge path starting from the scientific analysis of the work, combined with the experience of meticulous construction practices, has allowed for an intervention that considers the material and symbolic peculiarities of the work. This has contributed to marking the shift from an empirical approach based on daily practice to a scientific approach founded on a profound understanding of the heritage asset being intervened upon, aimed at its preservation

Discovering and communicating the rationalist architecture of Forl\uec. An integrated process

A partnership between the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna and ATRIUM aimed at enhancing the knowledge and communication of the rationalist architecture, built in the city of Forl\uec during the Fascist regime. The importance of finding an interpretative key for this dissonant heritage, bearers of an \u201cuncomfortable\u201d memory but at the same time able to strongly characterize the architectural quality of cities, was a primary goal. The cooperation started with the development of a pilot project regarding three architectures considered iconic for this context but also able to foster more complex urban policies. The first deliverable of the programme was the search, record, and management of the archival materials related to the whole history of these buildings. The enormous amount of data acquired revealed the importance of working on a dual track, aimed at both the stakeholders involved in the management process of this heritage and those who experience it. For what concerns the \u201ctechnical level\u201d which is related to the knowledge field, the first challenge was to understand how to manage information boosting interoperability, guaranteeing easy access and above all making the research implementable. According to the \u201ctouristic level\u201d instead, a further objective of the project was related to the communication of this heritage to a varied audience of visitors

Tra conservazione e riuso, le sfide del mutamento: il restauro di architetture razionaliste in Romagna

Contrary to what might be expected, the themes of energy efficiency, accessibility, safety and structural adjustment do not respond to linear chronological rules, according to which the further away in time the construction of a building is, the greater the gap from the current standards. The above assertion is demonstrated by recent events, regarding the restoration of buildings built during the 1930s and characterised by the use of construction and plant technologies that were highly innovative, if not revolutionary, but requiring today a profound rethink. The paper reviews some cases of restoration interventions – already carried out or at the stage of simple design – of rationalist buildings in Romagna, in which the needs imposed by the new uses (often very close to the “original” ones) have led to significant works of structural improvement, plant engineering and accessibility, sometimes with consequences harshly connected to the contemporary idea of “conservative restoration” (the only approach that is allowed in case of buildings subjected to a declaration of historical and architectural interest under the Legislative Decree 42/2004). In particular, the most intricate nodes of the difficult and non-trivial relationship between conservation, compatibility and reuse will be identified and subjected to a critical examination, with a view to achieving the best objectives for the protection of this heritage

Architetture del Ventennio per la formazione, la sanit\ue0 e l'assistenza. Studi e progetti per Mercato Saraceno

Nella generale regola che vuole che i modelli culturali centrali raggiungano la periferia degli imperi con anni, talvolta decenni, di ritardo, si pu\uf2 affermare che l\u2019esperienza del Ventennio fascista abbia rappresentato un\u2019eccezione: probabilmente la prima per capacit\ue0 di penetrazione, nonch\ue9 per coerenza e diffusione degli obiettivi. Le vicende di Mercato Saraceno, che qui si riassumono attraverso alcuni casi-simbolo, dimostrano ancora una volta la pervasivit\ue0 di quell\u2019iniziativa; una pervasivit\ue0 che, in Romagna, terra natale di Benito Mussolini, raggiunge livelli talvolta parossistici. Stupisce rilevare come, a pochi decenni di distanza da quegli eventi, anche in questa terra l\u2019apporto del fascismo in tale settore sia stato a lungo dimenticato, talvolta negato; oggi, finalmente, attraverso studi e ricerche, stimolati anche da esperienze come quella di ATRIUM (Architecture of Totalitarian Regimes of the 20th Century in Europe\u2019s Urban Memory), pare venuto il momento di ricondurre sotto l\u2019ala della ricerca storica, rimosse le pregiudiziali ideologiche, anche quel significativo periodo e il patrimonio che in esso venne prodotto

L'impiego del calcestruzzo armato nei contesti periferici. Mercato Saraceno durante il Ventennio

Mercato Saraceno, a small town in Romagna, lived a time of intense architectural activity during the fascist era. Arnaldo Mussolini, the little brother of Benito and director of the most influential Italian newspaper at that time, chose to build a private studio in the place of origin of his wife, Augusta Bondanini. Here, he greeted politicians of that period and also a lot of intellectuals, raising Mercato Saraceno to the honours of the chronicle. In those years, many buildings of public utility were built with the purpose of constructing a new image of this little peripheral context. Interesting examples are the local Casa del Fascio designed by the architect Ugo Dolcini, the Casa del Balilla of the Roman Cesare Valle, the \u201cAugusta Mussolini\u201d Kindergarten by Pietro Reciputi from Cesena, as well as the \u201cSandro Italico Mussolini\u201d Old Age Home of the same architect. A lot of interventions on the built heritage are also completed, one for all the enlargement of the local hospital, but also the restoration of the Palazzo Comunale, damaged by an earthquake at the end of the 1910s. Thus, the paper aim at focusing on the different way the reinforced concrete was used in some of these important works for Mercato Saraceno during the Fascist Era. The purpose is to verify how and how much the context influenced the technical choices

Architetture del Ventennio per la formazione, la sanit\ue0 e l'assistenza. Studi e progetti per Mercato Saraceno

Nella generale regola che vuole che i modelli culturali centrali raggiungano la periferia degli imperi con anni, talvolta decenni, di ritardo, si pu\uf2 affermare che l\u2019esperienza del Ventennio fascista abbia rappresentato un\u2019eccezione: probabilmente la prima per capacit\ue0 di penetrazione, nonch\ue9 per coerenza e diffusione degli obiettivi. Le vicende di Mercato Saraceno, che qui si riassumono attraverso alcuni casi-simbolo, dimostrano ancora una volta la pervasivit\ue0 di quell\u2019iniziativa; una pervasivit\ue0 che, in Romagna, terra natale di Benito Mussolini, raggiunge livelli talvolta parossistici. Stupisce rilevare come, a pochi decenni di distanza da quegli eventi, anche in questa terra l\u2019apporto del fascismo in tale settore sia stato a lungo dimenticato, talvolta negato; oggi, finalmente, attraverso studi e ricerche, stimolati anche da esperienze come quella di ATRIUM (Architecture of Totalitarian Regimes of the 20th Century in Europe\u2019s Urban Memory), pare venuto il momento di ricondurre sotto l\u2019ala della ricerca storica, rimosse le pregiudiziali ideologiche, anche quel significativo periodo e il patrimonio che in esso venne prodotto

L'impiego del calcestruzzo armato nei contesti periferici. Mercato Saraceno durante il Ventennio

Mercato Saraceno, piccolo comune dell\u2019entroterra romagnolo, conosce durante il Ventennio un\u2019epoca di intensa attivit\ue0 architettonica. Arnaldo Mussolini, fratello minore di Benito e allora direttore del pi\uf9 influente quotidiano d\u2019Italia, sceglie di costruire nella localit\ue0 di origine della moglie Augusta Bondanini uno studiolo privato. \uc8 qui che accoglier\ue0 esponenti politici dell\u2019epoca, nonch\ue9 numerosi intellettuali, catapultando Mercato Saraceno agli onori della cronaca. Per costruire una nuova immagine di questo piccolo contesto periferico vengono quindi costruiti, in quegli anni, numerosi edifici di pubblica utilit\ue0 come la locale Casa del Fascio opera dell\u2019architetto Ugo Dolcini, la Casa del Balilla del romano Cesare Valle, l\u2019asilo infantile \u201cAugusta Mussolini\u201d ideato dal cesenate Pietro Reciputi, cos\uec come la Casa di Riposo \u201cSandro Italico Mussolini\u201d frutto dell\u2019ingegno creativo dello stesso Reciputi. Sono inoltre condotti numerosi interventi sul patrimonio esistente, uno su tutti l\u2019ampliamento dell\u2019ospedale locale ma anche il restauro del Palazzo Comunale, danneggiato dagli eventi sismici della fine degli anni Dieci. Il presente contributo si pone dunque l\u2019obiettivo di focalizzare l\u2019attenzione sulle differenti modalit\ue0 di impiego del calcestruzzo armato in alcuni significativi interventi condotti a Mercato Saraceno durante il Ventennio. L\u2019intento \ue8 quello di verificare in che modo e in che misura il contesto, rispetto a realt\ue0 pi\uf9 centrali, abbia influenzato le scelte operative.Mercato Saraceno, a small town in Romagna, lived a time of intense architectural activity during the fascist era. Arnaldo Mussolini, the little brother of Benito and director of the most influential Italian newspaper at that time, chose to build a private studio in the place of origin of his wife, Augusta Bondanini. Here, he greeted politicians of that period and also a lot of intellectuals, raising Mercato Saraceno to the honours of the chronicle. In those years, many buildings of public utility were built with the purpose of constructing a new image of this little peripheral context. Interesting examples are the local Casa del Fascio designed by the architect Ugo Dolcini, the Casa del Balilla of the Roman Cesare Valle, the \u201cAugusta Mussolini\u201d Kindergarten by Pietro Reciputi from Cesena, as well as the \u201cSandro Italico Mussolini\u201d Old Age Home of the same architect. A lot of interventions on the built heritage are also completed, one for all the enlargement of the local hospital, but also the restoration of the Palazzo Comunale, damaged by an earthquake at the end of the 1910s. Thus, the paper aim at focusing on the different way the reinforced concrete was used in some of these important works for Mercato Saraceno during the Fascist Era. The purpose is to verify how and how much the context influenced the technical choices