CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION LABORATORY
cod. 1003792

Academic year 2015/16
1° year of course - Annual
Professor responsible for the course unit
COISSON Eva
integrated course unit
12 credits
hub:
course unit
in - - -

Learning objectives

Knowledge and understanding capabilities:
At the end of the course, the student will have a wide and critical view on the methods and techniques for the knowledge of historical architectural heritage and of its conservation status, as well as of the instruments for its restoration and conservation, in connection with the current cultural debate.

Proficiency:
At the end of the course the student will be able to identify all the metrological, material, structural, pathological aspects which characterize a historical building and to assume them as a base for the design of its restoration and reuse, achieving structural strengthening and materials conservation.

Independent judgment:
The student will have to develop the capability of evaluating critically the conservation status of a historical building, identifying the most suitable techniques for the specific case, looking for an equilibrium between conservation, safety and functionality. Moreover, the student will be able to interpret and assess the quality of any restoration design.

Communication skills:
During the course, the student will improve its correctness of speech, with specific reference to the technical terms of restoration, in order to communicate in an effective and precise way a restoration design.

Learning ability:
The materials and the techniques for the restoration and conservation of historical building change continuously. Therefore the student must be able to select, once the problem has been identified, the most suitable intervention, even evaluating options not specifically explained during the course.

Prerequisites

It is helpful if students have attended the Restoration course, as the base knowledge of restoration theories and of historical building elements are taken for granted during the course.
It is also useful to have some knowledge of computer aided design (e.g. Autocad), spreadsheet (e.g. Excel) and multimedia presentaions (e.g. Powerpoint).

Course unit content

The course is organized in two modules: one regards the general issues of architectural restoration and the strengthening and seismic protection of historical structures (restoration and consolidation of architecture); the other module is focused on the issues of materials knowledge and conservation (lithology and geology for architecture).
Both modules are divided in a theoretical part and an applied one.
A far as the detailed issues faced by the two modules are regarded, you can refer to the specific programs.
The applied part foresees the conservation, restoration and strengthening design of a real historical building (not necessarily enlisted). In the first period, the students will make surveys (divided in groups) on their case studies, in order to acquire the knowledge level needed to define the interventions, later designed in detail and provided with technical files and a bill of quantities, in order to simulate realistically an actual design process.

Full programme

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Bibliography

Suggested books:
- Rodolfo Antonucci, Restauro e recupero degli edifici a struttura in muratura. Analisi e interventi sul costruito storico, Maggioli Editore, 2012 (disponibile al prestito una copia nella versione 2009 presso la Biblioteca di Ingegneria e Architettura, collocazione ARC4 0316)
- “Linee guida per la valutazione e la riduzione del rischio sismico del patrimonio culturale” (scaricabile dal sito del Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali: http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/export/MiBAC/sito-MiBAC/Contenuti/Avvisi/visualizza_asset.html_1141304737.html)
- Lazzarini L., Laurenzi Tabasso M., Il restauro della pietra, UTET (disponibile al prestito una copia presso la Biblioteca di Scienze della Terra, collocazione SDPE 620 PEM 0008)

Research books:
- AA.VV, Manuale del Restauro Architettonico, Mancosu editore, Roma 2001.
- S. Mastrodicasa, Dissesti statici delle strutture edilizie, Hoepli, Milano 1989
- A. Giuffrè, Letture sulla meccanica delle murature storiche, Roma, 1988.
- E. Benvenuto, La scienza delle costruzioni e il suo sviluppo storico, Sansoni, Firenze 1991.
- Giuriani Ezio, Consolidamento Edifici Storici, Utet Tecnico, 2012, ISBN: 9788859807636
- G. Tampone, M. Mannucci, N. Macchioni, Strutture di legno: Cultura, conservazione, restauro, Edizioni De Lettera, Milano 2002.
- M. Del Monte, “Degrado biologico”, (scaricabile dal sito:
http://www.geologi.emilia-romagna.it/rivista/2009-35_Del-Monte.pdf )

More didactic material:
- Course Slides (available on the course’s website)
- Prezzario Opere Regione Emilia-Romagna (available on the site:
http://bur.regione.emilia-romagna.it/bur/area-bollettini/bollettini-pubblicati/2012/n.137-del-31.07.2012-parte-seconda/approvazione-dellelenco-regionale-dei-prezzi-delle-opere-pubbliche-come-previsto-dallart.-8-della-legge-regionale-11-10-ai-sensi-dellart.-133-del-dlgs-163-06/prezziario )

Teaching methods

The course is composed of traditional lectures (tought class), also with Powerpoint presentaions, and reviews.
During the course, also some seminars with external lecturers will be held, to inspect more deeply specific issues.
For the applied part, the students will be divided in groups (3 to 5 people). Each group will develop a restoration and conservation design on a real historical building and will be followed by the teachers with periodic reviews. The reviews are made in groups, on printed material prepared by the students.
At the middle of the course and at the end, the printed material must be handed down to the teachers.
Moreover, during the course there will be two collective reviews, one at the end of the knowledge path and one at the end of the course: in these occasions, each group will present (with Powerpoint or similar) its own work progress to the teachers and to the other students. These occasions are important both to exercise the communication skills of the students and to exchange and compare experiences among the different groups.

Assessment methods and criteria

During the course, the students will have to hand down their work twice to the teachers, in order to check and possibly correct the design process: one at the end of the knowledge phase and one at the end of the course.
Moreover, the two collective reviews, with public presentation of the designs, will allow a first evaluation of the correctness of speech and of the communicative skills.
These intermediate checks, although are not directly linked to the final grades, are in any case fundamental to demonstrate the profitable attendance to the course.

The learning assessment of the Laboratory of Conservation and Restoration is composed of an oral exam and consists of:

Discussion of the restoration design (by each group component)
- 50% of the overall grades.

Oral examination on the theoretical part of the program:
- Theoretical strengthening aspects (module of Restoration and Strengthening): 25% of the overall grades;
- Theoretical materials conservation aspects (module of Lithology and Geology for Architecture): 25% of the overall grades.

To pass the exam each of the three parts must receive a positive judgment.

Applicative part 50% divided in
Applications of the theory to the real case (proficiency) 25%
Original applications of the theory (independent judgment) 15%
Communication skills 10%
Theoretical strenghtening part 25% divided in
Theoretical questions (knowledge) 20%
Correctness of technical speech (communication skills) 5%
Theoretical conservation part 25% divided in
Theoretical questions (knowledge) 20%
Correctness of technical speech (communication skills) 5%

Other information

As for all the laboratories, attending the courses is compulsory.