Giovanna Franco

Energy Efficiency: Technical Feasibility, Compatibility, Energy Balance

The definition of strategies for improving energy performance of historical buildings compares instances of different nature. Among the variety of techniques and technologies available on the market or under scientific development, must be selected those considered more compatible and less invasive with the architectural features to be preserved. The text, specifically focused on the feasibility study on the monumental historical complex of the Albergo dei Poveri in Genoa, provides an assessment of the advantages, in terms of energy gains, which may be obtained by applying some passive techniques. It is also investigated the possibility to insert this building and its surroundings in a grid net, through cogeneration (n. 2 gas micro-turbines) and insertion of photovoltaic glass on the roofs of the greenhouses in the green valley, in order to balance energy production with energy needs or to connect to a net system.

Thermal Behaviour and Energy Demand

The chapter describes the first part of a feasibility study aimed at improving the thermal behaviour of the monumental historical complex of the Albergo dei Poveri in Genoa, chosen as a case study. The general masterplan for the complete recovery of the building primarily involves the definition of new uses (university pole for humanities), compatible with its architectural characters. A second phase consists in the calculation of transmittance values of transmittance of external walls and other dispersing elements, especially at the level of the top floor. According to these kinds of data (new uses and thermal behaviour) are then calculated the energy needs, thermal power for heating and sanitary water, electricity for illumination, other equipment, and cooling of several rooms. As a result of this first stage is a reliable calculation of the total energy requirement needed for the complete reuse of the building.

Impacts of Solar-Powered Panels on the Historical Environment

Incorporation of solar-powered panels into sensitive historical settings and landscapes is considered more of an open problem than a genuine opportunity, something which is made very clear in several international and national Guidelines. This chapter is focused on a critical analysis of several technical prescriptions concerning microgeneration in historical buildings and sensitive landscapes (mainly photovoltaic panels). The examined prescriptions are contained in international guides, technical reports, and even normative texts. The critical analysis is finalized to set up several factors, of quantitative and qualitative level, that contribute to qualify the incorporation of solar panels on historical settlements (or building or their surroundings, even sensitive landscapes). However, beyond the technical aspects, what is really significant is the final meaning of each intervention (mimesis or harmonious contrast).

Context and Methodology

Contemporary age force the scientific community to face the challenges of sustainability also within the historical context. It is not just a purely investigation on ecological footprint or energy efficiency; it is a crucial issue for human activity and behaviour. The text outlines the new horizon of researches aimed at improving energy efficiency of historical buildings and, in a more general sense, their sustainable management before, during, and after a renovation process. This kind of work should be proceeded by a multidisciplinary group that, in any case, share the same objectives and express the same attitude towards preservation and valorization of the existing architecture and landscape. Particularly interesting is the relation between preservation and technological innovation, in a broader sense and even as a tool to qualify the entire renovation process (system of knowledge, data acquisition, cataloguing, and management).

Energy and Heritage. Development on a Case Study

Applied research on energy efficiency in historical buildings is in this chapter developed on a real case study: the monumental complex of the Albergo dei Poveri in Genoa, in the north-western part of Italy. This huge building and its surrounding were object of a feasibility study for the complete restoration and reuse as a university pole (for humanities). The chapter briefly explains the history of the complex, its architectural and constructive features, and the main steps of the research done in order to develop its better knowledge and its restoration process, including the improvement of its thermal behaviour and energy generation. Each data and each result of the analytical process were inserted in a BIM model, specifically set up according to the constructive characters of the historical complex.

Guidelines for Eco-efficiency in the UNESCO Site of Cinque Terre: An Example of Good Practice

The paper discusses the results of a recent research focussed on the formulation of criteria of landscape and architectural compatibility to set up Guidelines to achieve eco-efficiency and install renewable energy source applications for domestic or agricultural use in the rehabilitation of traditional rural buildings within the World Heritage Property of Cinque Terre, Porto Venere and the Islands. The research was commissioned by the Regional Directorate of Liguria to the Universities of Genoa and Pavia and faces a new challenge for this type of sites due to the highly sensitive landscape and heritage values in place. Two factors oriented the research: a continuous passage of scale, from the territorial level to building detail and the continuous exchange among specialists within a trans-disciplinary team. The results of theoretical models of calculation of energetic behaviour and requirements applied by experts in Building Physics have been compared with the evaluation of the actual state of conservation of the buildings, with the local conditions of weather and sun exposure, with the data on relative climatology and on superficial and profound geology, with the possible energetic exigencies and with the reasons for heritage preservation and protection so as to select the possible solutions able to respond to all identified needs.

The conservation of the ‘modern’: Franco Albini and the Museum of the Treasury of San Lorenzo, Genoa

This paper looks at the logic and significance of the recent works of conservation and restoration carried out by the authors at the Museum of the Treasury of the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genoa, which was designed and built by Franco Albini in 1953–56. More than 50 years after completion of the structure, various problems had emerged regarding the fixtures and fittings, the artefacts exhibited and the exhibition layout itself – most of them due to wear and tear, roof leakages and the very methods/means used in the presentation of material. The interventions of conservation, maintenance, repair and – in a few cases – modification represented an occasion to look at the clashes – sometimes the outright contradictions – that arose between the notions of ‘origin’ and ‘originality’, ‘authentic’ and ‘authorial’, ‘modern’ and ‘contemporary’, which underlie all reflection upon restoration, especially those concerning modern architecture.