Study to regenerate the degraded neighborhood of San Carlo on the northern outskirt of Padua, Italy

The San Carlo neighborhood with the church of San Carlo at its center is a degraded area in the northern outskirts of Padua, a city located near Venice in the Veneto region of north-eastern Italy. Once marked by a distinctive identity, this part of the outskirts of Padua has gradually lost its social and functional character. The idea of restoring this decaying district has long been the subject of discussion by the local authorities. The neighborhood of San Carlo is one of the subjects recently investigated by students studying the \u2018Architectural and Urban Composition 2' course on the Master\u2019s Degree in Architectural Engineering at the University of Padua. Their ideas include a green piazza park, a community center and hall, a library, study rooms for students, additional parking, open space for the weekly market

Rebuilding an urban empty space. The area where the Eretenio Theatre once stood near the River Retrone in Vicenza, Italy

Vicenza is an ancient city located in the Veneto region, not far from Venice, in the north-east corner of Italy. This work specifically refers to the area of the Eretenio theatre on the bank of the River Retrone. The theatre was bombed and destroyed in 1944. Intimately part of the historic center of Vicenza, this abandoned area gradually lost its functional and social identity. The idea of rebuilding that degraded place has long been the object of discussion on the part of local authorities. The Eretenio theatre area is one of the subjects recently investigated by our students at the \u2018Architectural and Urban Composition 2' course taught on the master\u2019s degree in Architectural Engineering at the University of Padua. Students were required to present project hypotheses to reconfigure the lost unity of this symbolic part of the city. The history is considered an indispensable tool to know the deep reasons of the urban structure, which can be used to control the change of functional systems (political, social and economic). The Eretenio theatre area was proposed to our students as an opportunity to suggest new ways to manage the passage from past to future in the shadow of Andrea Palladio\u2019s architecture

Natural materials and basic construction techniques. Aspects of neo-brutalism in current architectural experience

Contemporary research in architecture recognises the enduring influence of neo-brutalist poetry in the simplicity of construction and simple linguistics of many developments inspired by minimalist asceticism that are important in Europe and particularly significant in Switzerland. In fact, there is the same preference for using untransformed natural materials and adopting basic construction techniques that facilitate the reading of these experiences as a continuum notwithstanding the different approach to form choices. Indeed, although the two trends differ in terms of form since this is fundamental in minimalist poetry but purely transcription of the construction project, being mere consistency in time and space, in the neo-brutalist experience, they are similarly interested in an architecture based on construction techniques and the full visibility of the materials and their characteristics, on the unfinished and the imperfect. Through a new way of reading and interpreting the ordinary and the banality of daily life, the continuity of the two experiences manifests itself in the adoption of a basic technology that exalts the joints between elements and materials. What emerges from comparing the development of the construction technique expressed in the projects of authors such as Peter Zumthor, and especially Herzog & De Meuron in their initial projects and the imperfect austere experiments in the London suburbs by Alison and Peter Smithson in the 1950s is that arguments now crucial to sustainability can be evaluated, arguments such as the use of materials not meant for buildings, the recovery of disused space and urban contexts unused instead of building consuming the soil, and more generally with reference to an architecture lacking the spectacular, able to draw its extraordinary characteristics from the communal world

Hendricus Theodorus Wijdeveld. Visions of a new Amsterdam

The early decades of the twentieth century represented a period of particular turmoil for the Netherlands as the country underwent a cultural transition that culminated in the search for a new social order to counteract the chaos generated by the Great War. The Dutch art world, which had always felt the need to play a role in society, now felt a pressing urge for renewal representative of the new community ideal. Wijdeveld contributed to this search through written pieces published in the magazine Wendingen. His support for a new social order first manifested itself in the idealistic design of the People’s Theatre to be built in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam, then in the visionary design concerning the expansion of the city of Amsterdam. Wijdeveld’s proposal for the People’s Theatre was initially conceived in 1919. The monumental theatre is located inside the Vondelpark in Amsterdam up against the city’s seventeenth- century perimeter walls. All around it lie the symbols of the country’s artistic culture: the Rijksmuseum, the Concertgebouw and the Stedelijk Museum. The drawings published in Wendingen magazine on the 9th and 10th of September-October 1919 highlight the urban value of the project. A major road axis, a veritable urban boulevard dotted with tower buildings, crosses the historic Vondelpark. Starting from the ramparts, the boulevard constitutes a perspective axis at the end of which stands the monumental People’s Theatre. The size of the public building reveals its representative value in accordance with a compositional tradition that harks back to the conception of the classical city. In the drawings, the Vondelpark appears to be overshadowed, with its presence negated. A modern route replaced the idea of the romantic park crossed by winding streets and symbolises trust in progress and the idea of urban and social order. This project prefaced the study of a contemporary and monumental expansion plan that involved the development of Amsterdam along radial roads that set out from the heart of the historical city towards rural land. These routes were dotted with a series of tower buildings that represented the idea of a city open to nature, following a development method that contrasted with the settlement rules of the historical city

L'architettura della sede del gruppo rionale fascista Evaristo Cappellozza a Padova. Trasformazioni nel tempo

The headquarters of the local fascist group Evaristo Cappellozza were built in 1938, designed by Quirino De Giorgio. It was the most valuable National Fascist Party building to be completed in Padua. The complex, made up of three buildings, still stands in Via Cristoforo Moro. This paper focuses on a recent maintenance intervention, which generated a disconcerting result characterized by free invented sculptural elements and finishes related to the original function. De Giorgio had designed the new building dedicated to administration and recreation on the right facing the headquarters, the transformation of the nearby school gym, in the centre, and the modification of a smaller building that housed showers and toilets. The facades on the street were clad in travertine, and the first block was engraved with the main part of the Discorso dell’impero, the "Speech of the Empire". Following the fall of fascism and, subsequently, the end of the war, all sculptural elements were removed and the slabs engraved with the words pronounced by Mussolini replaced with blank ones. However, as a result of the recent intervention mentioned above, new stone eagles have appeared, different from the originals, and the stone slabs corresponding to those on which the Discorso dell’impero was once engraved have been abraded, although replaced in the post-war period, deliberately suggesting a cancellation that never occurred

The ancient village of Sottomarina in the Venetian lagoon and the demolished Church of Saint Martin Bishop

This work concerns Sottomarina, a village located in the Venetian lagoon, and it specifically refers to the demolished Church of San Martin Bishop. The idea of restoring the central area of the village where the Church rised has long been the object of discussion on the part of local authorities. The village of Sottomarina is one of the subjects recently investigated by our research group at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering of the University of Padua. The centre of the ancient village of Sottomarina in the Venetian lagoon was thought as an opportunity to reconfigure the lost unity of this symbolic and representative place, custodian of its memory and identity. The order and hierarchy of the elements that characterized the form of this old place have been reconsidered. The intent to regenerate the area and the observations about the relationship between the village and the Venetian lagoon lead to recognize in the demolished Church of Saint Martin Bishop a unique opportunity which allows to recover rituals and connections from the past. The working method is based on the belief that, in the study of urban morphology, is basic to analyse the history of the city, clarifying the relationship between permanent structures and temporary ones. The history becomes an indispensable tool to know the deep reasons of the urban structure which is the memory and the image of the community. The methodology looks at the city as a product of functional systems (political, social, economic), but overall contemplates the urban form as a result of its spatial structure. The life of the urban form is investigated in its physical specificity, the only one able of giving reason of its special nature over every social, economic and political aspect, certainly important but not sufficient

Disused areas and urban regeneration. The historic centre of Vicenza, Italy

This work concerns Vicenza, a city located not far from Venice in the north-east corner of Italy, and it specifically refers to an area situated on the outskirts of the city's urban fabric between the perimeter of its ancient walls and the banks of the Bacchiglione river, in the shadow of the abandoned monastery of St. Biagio. The idea of restoring that physically and socially degraded area of the city of Vicenza has long been the object of discussion on the part of local authorities. Once intimately linked to the city's historic center, the area gradually lost its functional and social identity becoming first a parking lot and then equipped as a city warehouse. The intent to regenerate the area and the observation that the relationship between the city and its river is constantly refused, or delayed, lead to recognize in the long edge of the area a unique meeting opportunity which allows to repair the water-city association, recuperating rituals and connections from the past. The municipality is presently planning on pursuing a qualitative restoration of the area which will be used for social and cultural enrichment. The final part of the current work outlines some proposals that were developed during the Architectural and Urban Composition 2 course recently offered by the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering of the University of Padua (Italy)

Can Clinical and Surgical Parameters Be Combined to Predict How Long It Will Take a Tibia Fracture to Heal? A Prospective Multicentre Observational Study: The FRACTING Study

Background. Healing of tibia fractures occurs over a wide time range of months, with a number of risk factors contributing to prolonged healing. In this prospective, multicentre, observational study, we investigated the capability of FRACTING (tibia FRACTure prediction healING days) score, calculated soon after tibia fracture treatment, to predict healing time. Methods. The study included 363 patients. Information on patient health, fracture morphology, and surgical treatment adopted were combined to calculate the FRACTING score. Fractures were considered healed when the patient was able to fully weight-bear without pain. Results. 319 fractures (88%) healed within 12 months from treatment. Forty-four fractures healed after 12 months or underwent a second surgery. FRACTING score positively correlated with days to healing: r = 0.63 (p < 0.0001). Average score value was 7.3 \ub1 2.5; ROC analysis showed strong reliability of the score in separating patients healing before versus after 6 months: AUC = 0.823. Conclusions. This study shows that the FRACTING score can be employed both to predict months needed for fracture healing and to identify immediately after treatment patients at risk of prolonged healing. In patients with high score values, new pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments to enhance osteogenesis could be tested selectively, which may finally result in reduced disability time and health cost savings

The ancient village of Sottomarina in the Venetian lagoon and the demolished Church of Saint Martin Bishop

This work concerns Sottomarina, a village located in the Venetian lagoon, and it specifically refers to the demolished Church of San Martin Bishop. The idea of restoring the central area of the village where the Church rised has long been the object of discussion on the part of local authorities. The village of Sottomarina is one of the subjects recently investigated by our research group at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering of the University of Padua. The centre of the ancient village of Sottomarina in the Venetian lagoon was thought as an opportunity to reconfigure the lost unity of this symbolic and representative place, custodian of its memory and identity. The order and hierarchy of the elements that characterized the form of this old place have been reconsidered. The intent to regenerate the area and the observations about the relationship between the village and the Venetian lagoon lead to recognize in the demolished Church of Saint Martin Bishop a unique opportunity which allows to recover rituals and connections from the past. The working method is based on the belief that, in the study of urban morphology, is basic to analyse the history of the city, clarifying the relationship between permanent structures and temporary ones. The history becomes an indispensable tool to know the deep reasons of the urban structure which is the memory and the image of the community. The methodology looks at the city as a product of functional systems (political, social, economic), but overall contemplates the urban form as a result of its spatial structure. The life of the urban form is investigated in its physical specificity, the only one able of giving reason of its special nature over every social, economic and political aspect, certainly important but not sufficient

Giorgio Baroni: appunti sull'opera e gli scritti

Lo scritto, a cinque anni dalla scomparsa, ricorda l'attivit\ue0 didattica, di ricerca e professionale di Giorgio Baroni, ingegnere docente presso l'Istituto di Architettura e Urbanistica della Facolt\ue0 di Ingegneria dell'Universit\ue0 degli Studi di Padova. Gi\ue0 collaboratore di Giulio Brunetta, Baroni \ue8 stato in particolare esperto di edilizia ospedaliera e architettura dei rifugi alpini. La sua attivit\ue0 di docenza si \ue8 sviluppata, a partire dai primi anni cinquanta, nel settore dell'Architettura Tecnica. L'articolo, che restituisce un primo quadro dei filoni di ricerca approfonditi da Baroni, \ue8 integrato da una memoria di Camillo Bianchi