Atlante cronologico del Novecento in Italia

The Italian edition of the Atlas of Refurbishment is enhanced by a study specifically devoted to the Italian context, where the debate on conservation / transformation is always lively and stimulating. The vast process of construction and urban expansion that started immediately after the Second World War and lasted up until around the end of the 1980s, has been exhausted. Between the end of the twentieth and start of the twenty first century, society began to question the necessity, motivations and form of participation needed in the refurbishment of existing buildings. It has become widely appreciated that new buildings are aging more rapidly than older ones. This has led to a premature and worrying level of buildings becoming obsolete. Neglect, degradation, inefficiency, unreliable performance, a lack of security in the workplace and in life generally and an absence of identification and culture are often translated into social unease and both individual and collective alienation. This situation is profuse in the peripheries and particularly in the urban fabric of many government subsided buildings. Alongside the awareness of these various and serious problems, research of their possible solutions should be heald from different perspectives and, consequently, with levels of intervention "multi-focal" and "multi-scalar". Even more, a gradual process of "historicizing" inevitably makes us look at the built inheritance with eyes more detached from what we call the contemporary ("there is no memory without forgetting "has been written about the never ending dispute between old / new, preservation / modification, conservation / demolition). The part of the book referred to Italian context is divided into a section that discusses the architectural and constructive items of the twentieth century (also concerning problems of deterioration, obsolescence and inefficiency and the various possible ways to resolve such situations), and a section devoted to presentation of five recent Italian projects chosen among different typologies and design attitude. In analogy with the approach of the German volume, the first section (part E) is divided into three chapters corresponding to three time periods, significant for the Italian context: lots from tradition to modernity (1900-1940); from econstruction to the economic "boom " (1946-1960); from early industrialization to post-industrial society(1960-1980). Each of the three chapters recounts the highlights of changes in the architectural principles and building practice, focusing on both the theoretical debate and the technical evolution of the construction. The discussion provides an overview of the cultural framework, the design features, the prevailing problems of material degradation, inefficient performance, functional construction and possible ways of intervention. Compared to the German Volume, Italian section focuses on some specific, to avoid duplication. Apart from the references included in the text, in fact, the two treatments complement each other, offering insights for deeper studies. Particular emphasis is placed on the relation between the detail and architecture as a whole, and on the debate, today more and more frequently, on the theme of Restoration of Modern Architecture. At the end of the book are the notes accompanying the text, which, together with technical literature and data on the projects presented, constitute a further study.