HERITAGE 2014

HERITAGE 2014

Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Heritage and Sustainable Development

Guimarães, Portugal22-25 July

Edited by

Rogério Amoêda Sérgio Lira

Cristina Pinheiro

HERITAGE 2014 Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Heritage and Sustainable Development Edited by Rogério Amoêda, Sérgio Lira & Cristina Pinheiro Cover photo: Citânia de Briteiros, Guimarães (Photo credit: Sociedade Martins Sarmento) © 2014 The Editors and the Authors All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission from the Publisher

ISBN 978-989-98013-6-3 e-ISBN 978-989-98013-7-0 doi: 10.14575/gl/heritage2014 Published by Green Lines Instituto para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável Green Lines Institute for Sustainable Development Av Alcaides de Faria, 377 S 12 4750-106 Barcelos, Portugal mail@greenlines-institute org http://www greenlines-institute org 1st edition, July 2014

1 INTRODUCTION

"In the Mediterranean tradition, from which most Western architecture is directly descended, the need to render society's shelter-investment permanent - or, at least perdurable, - was normally answered by making it massive. (...) such constructions bring with them environmental advantages that had became so customary in three millennia of European civilization, that they were falsely supposed to be inherent in all structural techniques, and there were baffled complaints when they were found to be absent from light-weight methods promoted out of futuristic enthusiasm for 'The Machine Age'." (Banham, 1984).

Today, Banham's considerations are replaced by discussions about learning the lesson of vernacular architecture in order to understand the bioclimatic values of such traditional constructions and apply them in contemporary sustainable architecture. Of course, we need to take into consideration the fact that Banham work dates back to the 1960s, a period of extraordinary faith in mechanical and electrical systems, also due to the availability of low cost energy. The use of air-conditioning and heating, which seemed to be the more logical choice, for that period, today is called into question. Achieving sustainability, with all the implications, is the most delicate and arduous challenge that mankind has to face. The high consumption of energy of many buildings together with the need for an environmentally sustainable alternative, has led to a revaluation of traditional construction methods. Of course, it is not possible to simply copy and transfer those ancient methodologies to our modern architecture; anyway the attitude of ancient builders towards the environment and the strict link with the construction should be taken into consideration.

The challenging issues of restoring a Modern building while respecting the project’s principles of “sustainability”: the case study of the Tavolara Pavilion

M. Pisanu & P. Sanjust University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

doi: 10 14575/gl/heritage2014/0 ABSTRACT: The paper aims to discuss a case study representative of the challenging issues of restoring a Modern building, respecting the original principles (which today would be recognized as sustainable) that guided the architect, Ubaldo Badas, throughout the project. The Tavolara Pavilion is probably one of the best examples of Modern architecture in Sardinia and combines art and architecture together, establishing a special connection with the lieu. The purpose of the project was to revaluate Sardinian craft, by giving the region a place for temporary exhibitions. In addition to the valuable architecture, the building is interesting because the problems of air-conditioning and heating are solved without technological systems, but naturally. Therefore, the difficult question is how to revive the delicate system of natural cooling while meeting the needs for a contemporary use. The paper presents the restoration results, and focuses on the solution adopted to maintain the natural ventilation.

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2 SUSTAINABILITY AND TRADITION IN MODERN ARCHITECTURE

It is commonly thought that all buildings of the Modern era are poor performers in terms of energy, given that the main purpose of modern architects was to "build projects that were rational, functional, innovative and rich, with strong political and cultural identities —vfuturistic in all senses, and at all costs, and bathing in an optimistic faith in progress" (Casciato, 2008). So it is a great challenge to restore the Modern heritage, not only at a cultural level, overcoming the lack of appreciation towards Modern buildings, but especially at an environmental level, implementing the energy efficiency. "That’s why the identified theme to focus on is Modern Movement as the absolute primacy of the process over the style, looking for quality of life" (Tostões, 2011). This point of view recalls the Reyner Banham's credit for having considered holistically the history of architecture as a summary of form, function, materiality with the technological evolution, instead of a static analysis of the evolution of style and exterior attributes. Similarly, it is necessary to consider the preservation and the reuse of Modern architecture as a process that starts with a thorough understanding of the building features, especially the original solutions that today would be recognized as sustainable, and aims at making the building congruent with contemporary standards of energy efficiency.

"Greening modernism" (Stein, 2010) is a concept that involves a holistic approach towards the conservation project, taking into consideration the values of the architecture and the necessity to preserve the architect's original intents. The concept of sustainability entails, of course, the reuse of existing buildings, avoiding waste of natural resources, so the process of restoration itself is sustainable. But there is another aspect that should be carefully analyzed, concerning the "sustainable" principles inherent in the twentieth century architecture. Recently, the research in the field of preservation of Modern architecture has rediscovered the potentiality of Modern architecture to be sustainable. In fact, Modern architects revolutionized the old idea of architecture, introducing light and air in their buildings and establishing a new connection, also visual, with nature. The attempt to integrate natural ventilation and air-conditioning, lighting fixtures, shading systems with the structure of the building, is an attitude typical of many architects of the Modern Movement (Rappaport, 2008). Le Corbusier's continuous research towards an anthropomorphized architecture, to name a great model, together with his connection with the vernacular tradition and his admiration to the classical architecture, especially that of the Mediterranean, are examples of this approach.

But the continuity with tradition and the attempt to learn from vernacular architecture, applying and re-elaborating the basic principles, are attitudes quite frequent in Italian Modern architecture. Italian Rationalists' program followed an approach that involved in their projects geographical aspects, climate, context, site and local materials, as inspirational principles, particularly after the war. The strict connection with the Mediterranean traditional architecture, led the movement to consider as equally important both functionalism and identity. With regard to this dualism, the article "Arte e razionalismo" (art and Rationalism) written by Adalberto Libera in 1928, clarifies the connection between internationalism and Rationalism. He states that art has always had both national and international features but according to him, international ones are increasing compared to national characteristics. He continues explaining specifically why Rationalism in Italian architecture is not a synonym of international. In fact, requirements regarding technology, comfort and culture are international, but some qualities like climate and ethic remain as national characteristics (Libera, 1928).

He certainly applied these principles in the "Unità d'abitazione orizzontale nel quartiere Tuscolano" (horizontal living quarter) in Rome, which is designed with the purpose of applying Mediterranean life principles as a function of living. The patio houses, following the favorable climate conditions, are designed to favor outdoor living and to enhance sense of community and relationships between neighbors, which are typical of Mediterranean values (Zanuso, 1955).

The interest towards the typical features of Italian popular architecture are evident also in the work of architects such as Luigi Figini who, talking about the architecture of Ibiza (1950), identified the importance of vernacular tradition in the spread of the white wall (Lejeune & Sabatino, 2010), connecting directly one of the most recognizable feature of Modern architecture with vernacular tradition. A specific article, titled "Documenti di architettura rurale" (documents of rural architecture), regarding vernacular architecture was written by Giuseppe Pagano in 1935 and published in Casabella. The article, which precedes the exhibition

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on Italian rural architecture at the Triennale, shows the author's admiration and respect for spontaneous constructions. Pagano asserts that where climate, people's habits and economic conditions have not changed over the years, then the architectural characteristics, resulting from utilitarian reasons, are also the same. He explains that where construction is considered as a work tool and is a consequence of the instinctive and primitive logic of the human being, then architectural characteristics are not different from the past. Thus, a deep investigation of rural architecture is not only useful but necessary to understand those connections between cause and effect, which are not included in the study of stylistic architecture (Pagano, 1935).

The postwar architecture continues this link with tradition, but the premises are different. First of all, it is necessary to forget the painful experience with the fascist regime, so the connection with popular architecture has a deeper meaning than in the past. The desire to narrate the routine, the social themes, to focus on the content, and the neo-realism of the movies, during and after the Second World War, is an expression of these needs. Neo-realism has spread from the domain of Cinema to those of literature, art and architecture, even if it is not a movement but rather a sharing of ideals. Architects such as Rogers, protagonist with Banham of the famous controversy regarding the supposed Italian retreat from Modern architecture, Ridolfi, Quaroni, Gardella and Albini in the 1950s, share the rediscovery of traditional themes, the interest towards reality and the use of a popular language. The Ina-Casa constructions, popular dwellings built from 1949 to 1963, are the emblem of Neo-realism in architecture, because they are conceived as popular houses and they need to be constructed with traditional materials, in order to support the employment of unskilled labor. The necessity to abandon the new construction technologies in favor of traditional ones and the importance of identity, as a link with the past, explain the peculiarity of Italian Modernism, which is a compromise between innovation and tradition.

3 THE TAVOLARA PAVILION

The Tavolara Pavilion (Fig. 1) represents an example of such compromise between innovation and tradition, through the dualism architecture and art. The architect, Ubaldo Badas, has a strong connection with Sardinian traditional handcraft and together with the artist Eugenio Tavolara, to whom the Pavilion is presently dedicated1, gave a large contribution to the modernization of this regional art. In fact, since the 1920s, they were in charge of ENAPI, a public body specifically destined to the promotion and valorization of handicrafts, helping little industries improving productive process and commercialization, and they performed their work organizing courses, exhibitions and competitions. Badas and Tavolara continued to refine their mission and, in 1957, Sardinia Region established a new body, named Isola (the Italian word for island), aiming at reorganizing and promoting Sardinian handicraft, while respecting the tradition.

The Pavilion reflects the architect's interest and commitment to the reevaluation of arts and crafts, becoming itself a "handicraft piece", because of the quality of decorations and details. As a matter of fact, the link between architecture and art was a discussion topic during those years, when it was not rare for buildings to be adorned by famous artists' creations. But in this case there is more than a simple decoration, in fact it is the Pavilion itself to be conceived as a "piece of design". The architect transferred there all his knowledge and experience, collaborating with many artists such as Eugenio Tavolara, Gavino Tilocca, Emilia Palomba and Giuseppe Silecchia.

Every decoration is perfectly integrated in the building and treated as a constructive element, at the same time the walls become ornamental elements, decorated with green-colored ceramic listels, alternatively shiny and opaque. Ubaldo Badas interprets the project program very coherently, as the Pavilion was intended to be a place for temporary exhibitions, for cultural activities and for selling the artisans' creations, but the Region main aim was to re-launch Sardinian artistic products. The fortunate position, within the Public Gardens, suggested a strict link with the surrounding vegetation, and the architect enhanced this connection using open spaces, projecting roofs and pergolas; but above all, it is the pool that establishes this special link. In fact, the Pavilion seems to be suspended over the water, representing at the same time a division and a contact with the gardens. External volumes are elaborately organized with

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projections, sloping planes, protrusions and walls that do not finish at the corner and the interior reflects the same complex organization. The exhibit hall (Fig. 2), conceived also for conferences, is designed following a trapezoidal shape and it is characterized by a series of shaped pillars covered with white marble. The brave structural system of the roof, designed following the moment diagram, was covered using wood listels, maybe because of second thoughts as it was originally thought to be exposed (Iori, 2007). The workshops area is organized around the central patio (Fig. 3), there are not rigid divisions but open spaces, plenty of light. One of the most interesting elements is the staircase, which connects the workshop area with the hall of honor, conceived as a design object and entirely covered with mosaic ceramic elements, alternatively white and violet.

Figure 1. The Pavilion in an old picture postcard.

Another distinguishing feature of the building is the variety of materials, which are: marble

listels for the exhibit hall, both outside and inside; marble slabs for walls, columns and the flooring of the exhibit hall; wood, used for the false ceiling of the exhibit hall, for the handrail and for the entrance structure; ceramic for decorations; and finally iron. New materials and traditional ones coexist together resulting in an architecture strongly peculiar; similarly, new technologies are combined with traditional construction techniques, reflecting the Italian Modernism. The Tavolara Pavilion is one of the most interesting examples of Modern architecture in Sardinia, since the architect succeed in conciliating identity and tradition with modernity and innovation.

The Pavilion, as well as many other Badas' projects, especially postwar buildings, establishes a special connection with the lieu, for example trough the use of colors: the walls covering are dark-green and the glass windows of the exhibit hall are turquoise green. The relationship between the building and the surroundings is visual, thanks to the transparent walls toward the gardens, but it is also an interpenetration of spaces because outside and inside merge into each other, for the use of elements such as pergolas, projections, brise soleil. But these elements, typical of the Mediterranean architecture, are also essential to control climate conditions.

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Figure 2. The exhibit hall after the restoration project.

Figure 3. The patio and the workshops area.

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4 THE "SUSTAINABLE" PRINCIPLES OF THE TAVOLARA PAVILION

In addition to the valuable architecture, the Pavilion is interesting because the problems of air-conditioning and heating are solved without technological systems, but naturally. Sun and wind, the main features of the Sardinian climate, are controlled through the building orientation (closing the walls too exposed during the summer and opening the facades toward the garden at north-east), through the use of colors (choosing light paints in the south and dark ones in the north) and reducing the solar radiation with brise soleil, arbors and projections (Iori, 2007). These elements are certainly part of the design composition, but above all they function as climate controllers, being efficient shading devices. Moreover, they create a sort of intermediate space controlling "the relationship between interior and exterior", which is "an energy operation that should be call a filter between different environmental conditions" (Coch, 1998). Therefore, the building respects the Mediterranean tradition of vernacular constructions, also for the natural ventilation system. The majority of the windows are permeable, even if most of them are fixed, which means that they have, between the sheets or in the contact with the window frame, thin splits that allow the hot air to be replaced by fresh air.

However, the most amazing characteristic is the glass wall of the exhibit hall (Figs. 2, 4, 5) composed by a series of sheets, obliquely arranged as a shutter. This peculiar arrangement allows the air flow (cooled by the pool water below, currently drained) to pass through the permeable windows, producing a natural air-conditioning.

Figure 4. Detail of the glass wall of the exhibit hall. In evidence, an exhibition of handicrafts.

Unfortunately, during the eighties, a restoration compromised those principles of natural air-

ventilation, closing the air circulation by adding a second glass wall, and including heavy air-conditioning systems. Moreover, some of those tools and machinery were installed in the roof, altering the shape. Recently, the Pavilion has been restored once again, in order to re-establish the building's values and give back an exhibition centre to the city. However, the difficult

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question is how to revive the delicate system of natural cooling while meeting the needs for a contemporary use.

5 THE RESTORATION PROJECT: DEALING WITH THE NATURAL VENTILATION SYSTEM

The Sardinia Region has recognized the importance of this valuable building, not only because of its architectural features and the significance for the Modern architecture of the island, but also because it has been and it should be an important cultural and exhibition centre for the city of Sassari. The project aims at preserving, renovating and designing a set-up for the new Tavolara museum, which will occupy part of the building, and at organizing a space for the commercialization of the Sardinian handicrafts. The permanent utilization poses a number of questions regarding comfort, security and usability, the building must respect the criteria of efficiency, in line with current standards and maintain, at the same time, the original architectural characteristics. Previous interventions determined a negative impact on the building, especially the restoration conducted in the 1980s that was mentioned before, which replaced the majority of windows and doors, adding a second window wall in the exhibit hall. This restoration work tried to enhance the building environmental performance by adding heavy heating and air-conditioning systems and renovating the roof layers, but it was not respectful towards the original values of the building.

Thus, it was necessary to eliminate all these incongruous additions, in order to reestablish, where possible and philologically correct, the previous architectural aspects. The current project, managed by the firm Cenami-Simonetti-Ticca, removed these alterations reinstating, as much as possible, the original building appearance. An exhaustive study, conducted by a research group2 guided by professor Poretti from the University of Tor Vergata in Rome, had preceded the restoration project. The research, funded by the Ministry for Cultural Assets and Activities, by means of the Sassari department responsible for the environment and historical buildings, led to the publication of the book: "Il Padiglione dell'Artigianato a Sassari, architettura e conservazione" (The Arts and Crafts Pavilion in Sassari, architecture and conservation) edited by Gangemi in 2007. On the basis of the guidelines developed by the research team, the Sardinia Region prepared the preliminary project at the base of the public tender. This synergy between university and institutions has positively influenced the restoration results.

In this context, it could be more interesting to analyze the solution adopted to face the problem of maintaining the natural ventilation while meeting the currently standards for environmental comfort. The requirements for a contemporary use imposed to install new air-conditioning systems, as little invasive as possible, replacing the old ones as well as the connected machinery, which altered the shape of the roof. The aim was to conciliate the technological systems with the original natural air ventilation. The achieved compromise allows the use of natural ventilation during intermediate seasons and the use of artificial heating and air-conditioning systems during the summer and in the brief winter.

With regard to the window wall of the exhibit hall (Figs. 5, 6), the intervention concerned: firstly, the dismantling of the original translucent glass sheet and its cleaning; then every glass sheet was used as the external glass of a double glazing, adding a new 8-9 mm pane (Fig. 7). The obtained double glazing was then inserted in a new window frame made of steel instead of iron, as the old ones, but quite similar (Fig. 8). What is more, the new system allows the sheets to be opened and closed, depending on the needs. Therefore, even if it was not possible to maintain the permeability of the windows permanently, the natural ventilation has been kept as well as the original panes.

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Figure 5. The glass wall of the exhibit hall before the restoration work. View from the gardens.

Figure 6. The glass wall of the exhibit hall after the interventions. Interior view.

Figure 7. Restoration works. The double-glazing of the exhibit hall.

Figure 8. Restoration works. The new frame of the double-glazing.

6 CONCLUSIONS

The example of the Tavolara Pavilion poses a number of questions regarding how a preservation project should deal with the difficult compromise between conserving the original values of a building and, at the same time, meeting the needs for a contemporary use. However, it is important to identify the peculiar characteristics of every building that must be preserved, recognizing the original architect's intents, especially when there are sustainable principles, even if they are basic.

"Rather than succumbing to the rhetoric that Modern Movement architecture is unsustainable, preservation projects can take up the challenge of sustainable use and systems with lower carbon emissions, while upholding Modernist principles" (Rappaport, 2008).

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ENDNOTES

1 The original name was "Padiglione dell'Artigianato" (Arts and Crafts Pavilion). 2 The members of the research team were: Rinaldo Capomolla, Stefano Gizzi, Tullia Iori, Sergio Poretti

and Rosalia Vittorini.

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