HERITAGE CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION
cod. 1011488

Academic year 2024/25
1° year of course - Annual
Professor
Federica OTTONI
Academic discipline
Restauro (ICAR/19)
Field
Teorie e tecniche per il restauro architettonico
Type of training activity
Characterising
40 hours
of face-to-face activities
4 credits
hub: PARMA
course unit
in ITALIAN

Integrated course unit module: ARCHITECTURAL RESTORATION STUDIO

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 architectural heritage restoration and
of its valorization, in connection with the current cultural debate.
Proficiency:
At the end of the course the student will be able to identify the main
material and structural issues of an historical building and tits value. He
will be able to develop, following a critical analysis of the building, an
organic restoration and conservation design of the case study, aimed at
its possible reuse and valorization.
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 student must be able to critically select the most suitable
intervention and to relate his choice to the current cultural debate

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) and multimedia presentaions (e.g. Powerpoint).

Course unit content

The course is organizaed in two parts: a theoretical one and an applied
one.
The theoretical part, given that the knowledge on restoration theories
and historical buildings elements, as the structural restoration and
strengthening techniques, should have already been acquired, is focused on the following subjects:
1. Basic concepts: restoration, conservation
2. The normative system and history of heritage protection
3. Valorization and reuse of historical heritage: economy and values
5. Surfaces and degradation: analysis and intervention techniques
6. Theoretical questions applied to interventions: the principles of
restoration in design choices
7. Examples of restoration
8. The question of plant - historical and modern
9. Restoration, conservation and accessibility: connections and
overcoming
of architectural barriers
The applied part foresees the restoration design of a real historical
building.
The students (divided in groups) will apply the knowledge acquired to
their case studies in order to define the
interventions, later designed in detail.

Full programme

1. Basic concepts: restoration, conservation
2. The normative system and history of heritage protection
3. Valorization and reuse of historical heritage: economy and values
5. Surfaces and degradation: analysis and intervention techniques
6. Theoretical questions applied to interventions: the principles of
restoration in design choices
7. Examples of restoration
8. The question of plant - historical and modern
9. Restoration, conservation and accessibility: connections and
overcoming

Bibliography

Research books:
- R. DI STEFANO, Antiche pietre per una nuova civiltà, Edizioni
Scientifiche Italiane, Napoli, 2003;
- R. DI STEFANO, Monumenti e valori, Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Napoli,
1996;
- T. MONTANARI, Privati del patrimonio, Le Vele, Einaudi, Torino, 201?
- S. SETTIS, Architettura e democrazia, Le Vele, Einaudi, Torino, 201
- R. PICONE, Conservazione e accessibilità. Il superamento delle barriere
architettoniche negli edifici e nei siti storici, Arte Tipografica, Napoli 2004.
More didactic material (AVAILABLE ON THE COURSE’S WEB SITE):
Course slides

Teaching methods

The course is composed of traditional lectures (tought class), also with
Powerpoint presentaions.
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 (2 to 4 people,
in continuity with the previous course). Each group will develop a
restoration and strengthening design on a real historical building and will
be followed by the teacher with periodic reviews. The reviews are made
in groups, on printed material prepared by the students.
At the end, the printed material must be handed down to the teacher.
Moreover, during the course there will be two collective reviews: in these
occasions, each group will present (with Powerpoint or similar) its own
work progress to the teacher 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 present their work to the teacher, in
order to check and possibly correct the design process.
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.
The judgment will be made in the final exam, which is oral and consists
of:
Discussion of the restoration design
Oral examination on the theoretical part of the program

Other information

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2030 agenda goals for sustainable development

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