Design between Architecture and Structure: Case Studies of Pilot Interventions on Italian Monumental Buildings

Two case studies, referring to historic Italian buildings housing city halls, provide an opportunity to investigate the design of non-standard elements aimed at protecting masonry vaults, with particular reference to the preliminary works prior to the actual structural restoration work. There is in fact a phase in which it is a priority to secure the vault to avert possible risks to the users of that portion of the building. This phase is temporarily intermediate between the detection and aggravation of injuries and the renovation and consolidation project. Although these are provisional works, they are intended for buildings that are often public and therefore intended for a wide range of users, such as schools, offices or monumental buildings. In analyzing traditional techniques and systems used in similar cases, the possibility of developing evolutionary aspects with respect to, above all, simple shoring techniques emerged. In these areas, hybrids between a structural and architectural project, it is possible to reconcile static requirements with architectural techniques of space management, attentive to the quality of the interior and the integration of the provisional work with the reference context.