Respect and preserve history
In the architectural restoration section, we include all those projects that deal with architectural works of historical and symbolic value where it is necessary to interface with the Superintendencies of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape. Restoration aims to ensure the conservation of an architecture, to give it its proper value by enabling its reuse, while managing to take into account its historical significance. The initial phase, which is also common to other types of intervention, corresponds to the historical analysis of the building, subsequently the construction techniques that characterize the structure are studied, followed by an analysis of the state of structural and surface degradation in which the property is found with particular dedicated studies (degradation maps). If necessary, diagnostic analyses, semi-destructive or non-destructive testing, load tests and instrumental analyses will be carried out. The final phase, after acquiring all necessary data and correctly interpreting it, will be the restoration design, where the new end uses of the building will be defined, and the intervention methods will be detailed.
Renew with awareness
The end use will play a fundamental role, because the structures, systems and the historical nature of the building itself can in some cases be a constraint to such modification, so we always try to maintain end uses that are as compatible as possible. Architectural restoration does not have a single way of being conceived—there are different schools of thought and teaching, with multiple nuances that range from extreme positions: “one that aims at absolute preservation of the historic building in the condition it is found and the other that goes so far as to legitimize substantial reconstructions of the architectural work as it was and where it was.” (Wikipedia quote). As for 23bassi, we always seek, with the help of the Cultural Heritage Superintendency, to analyze the data that comes from careful and thorough study of the building in all its parts, and then define a restoration project that mediates between the needs of reuse and those of conservation. Each project is a unique case with characteristics and contextual conditions that do not allow for generalizations.