Year 3 (2024)
Frontier workshop 3
- Background: This final Frontier Workshop is an online intensive course on cutting edge topics about structural retrofitting of existing reinforced concrete structures. The course aims to provide participants with methodological criteria and guidelines regarding issues of structural conservation, for the reuse and enhancement of concrete structures. These criteria and guidelines take into account on one hand the extraordinary international relevance and fame of Pier Luigi Nervi’s iconic works of twentieth-century structural architecture and the need for their valorisation, and the meta-design choices of the feasibility study for their reuse. At the same time, they strive to connect with the most advanced international level of debate and knowledge on the issues of analysis and restoration of contemporary architectural heritage structures.
- Program: Referring to both the evolution of knowledge and the corresponding regulatory references developed in recent years in the international precoding and coding locations for ordinary reinforced concrete and ferrocement structures, the workshop:
- introduces causes of structural deficiency and common diagnostic techniques
- introduces materials with strengthening capabilities
- explores the potentialities of advanced cement- and polymer-based composite materials for the structural strengthening of reinforced concrete buildings
- introduces design approaches for structural strengthening complying with the architectural value, based on the surface application of strengthening layers, the reduction of non-structural masses or the introduction of new supplementary and legible structural systems.
Each workshop day covers both theoretical and practical aspects, being subdivided into:
- dedicated to the explanation of the subjects and concepts;
- devoted to the application of the subjects and concepts to representative situations (possibly with the support of testing laboratories) and
- targeting the application of the subjects and concepts to a simple case study preliminarily assigned to the students.
The outcomes of this Frontier Workshop will be integrated in the learning activities of the subsequent REgenerate Workshop about the Artemio Franchi Stadium, when the students will receive the task of implementing the knowledge acquired in the Frontier.
REgenerate workshop 3
- Background: The REgenerate Workshop 2024 will centre on performing the multifaceted assessment and analysis of a specific concrete architecture, the Artemio Franchi Stadium by Pier Luigi Nervi in Florence, to be preserved and repurposed. Learners will evaluate and interpret the different data acquired on the chosen structure and present the problems to be solved as well as the preparatory analysis to be performed before the renovation design. The scientific approach to the regeneration process to be conveyed to the students:
- the work has to be recognized as an asset to be protected, preserved and restored
- pre-evaluation, the analysis of the state of conservation of the building has to be performed
- a compatible function for the building has to be identified
- the recovery process has to be sustainable and “green” in the choice of materials and technical solutions
- once all these elements have been taken into consideration, it is possible to proceed with the planning, in order to achieve the full functionality of the building or structure. The goal is to permit a wide range of compatible functions in order to ensure the best possible future life of the building while respecting its cultural value.
- Program: The workshop comprises:
- A one-day field trip to visit and experience the Artemio Franchi Stadium.
- The workshop in the Laboratorio Nervi on the POLIMI Campus. There the students will explore and use the material assembled in the Laboratorio Nervi. During the 4 days the students will stay on campus and will work on the preparatory tasks which have to be performed before starting a conservation and reuse process of the case study. They will also perform an exercise based on the contents of the Frontier Workshop 3, to implement the acquired knowledge.
After the workshop, the students will present their project results evaluated by the faculty after 2 months, giving them time for post production and finalisation.