Giorgio Croci1, Didier Repellin2, Francesca Brancaccio3, Mario Biritognolo4, Giuseppe Carluccio5, Pascal Prunet6, Nicolas Detry7, Laurence Lobry8, Paolo Rocchi 9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 RTP CROCI-REPELLIN, Via S. Anna dei Lombardi 16, 80134 Napoli info@b5srl.it

ABSTRACT

Conservation and protection of cultural heritage could be defined between the articulation of a physical framework (respect of the materials, technological integration) and the complexity of intangible aspects. The dialectic about cultural heritage and its restoration moves around integrated conservation strategies, scheduled maintenance and compatible management. A sustainable restoration is among the objectives of conservation, through the implementation of "good choices" and the identification of "best practices", in order to establish a new dialogue between a heritage building and its context (both urban and social), linking historical materials with new products and technologies.

The case study of the restoration of the Real Albergo dei Poveri in Naples – an XVIII century site of worldwide interest - shows the philosophy and the methodologies used in a sustainable restoration, that combines respect for history and philology of the layers, choice of new and old materials and technics, their implementation, together with critical operations of removals or replacements.

Sustainable restoration is a "retention and conservation tool", which forecasts consolidation and reconfiguration, rain protection of unfinished walls, interventions on ceilings, vaults, roofs and other architectural elements. Traditional structures and materials can match new solutions in an accurate design that introduces introducing compatible alternatives.

The state of incompleteness, the split and inhomogeneous use of the last years in the life of this urban scale heritage building, the abandonment as result of structure collapses in the past, has delivered today an empty immense box in the city, characterized by both poor structural and locative conditions. A new season of interest is raising: the restoration project introduces eco-friendly solutions, concerning careful choices of materials and technologies, and devices like the recovery of rainwater, the integration of photovoltaic modules in glass roofs, the adoption of green roofs, use of underfloor heating. The consolidation of walls and vaults, with modern techniques and experimental materials, follows the architectural reconfiguration, according to the principles of critical restoration. Flexibility, potential reversibility, sustainability inform all the choices and solutions. The public access eco-building was already selected in 2002 as an emblematic case study within the European project S.A.R.A., in relation to the optimization of choices of compatible reuse and identification of standard and parameters of energy saving. The Report of the UNESCO - ICOMOS Mission to the historic center of Naples (12/ 2008) pointed out: “The project team aimed at applying an integrated design for an eco-building - innovation in planning and architecture to reach sustainability, at adopting natural and local components and materials, as well as integrating renewable energy systems in the restoration of the ancient building.”

Today, after 15 years spent in keen knowledge, detailed projects and ongoing worksites, it is possible to offer a new feeling of belonging and awareness to a place that has been for a long time a site of social and human separation. The Real Albergo dei Poveri, with its strategic location and its dimensions, can eventually start to be integrated into the city. New opportunities might be open within it: the opportunity of living with the differences, as civitas, the opportunity of being the place where everybody could experience the condition of feeling a citizen.

Parole chiave/Key-words: sustainable restoration, environment, urban scale, ethic, technological integration