Design Systems of Modern Architecture as a Tool for the Re-use and Restoration Project. The School of Engineering in Bologna by Giuseppe Vaccaro

Abstract

Giuseppe Vaccaro in his original handbook “Schemi distributivi di Architettura” dating back to the mid thirties provides a key to solving the compositional project of various types of buildings. At the same time, as writing this text, he applied those principles to the School of Engineering in Bologna, built between 1933 and 1935. This paper will examine the functional aspects and the solutions provided by the method developed by the architect who, in the theoretical debate of the time, proposed his own original schematization of the whole composition of the building. The capacity of synthesis obtained through the lexicon and syntax proposed represents a sort of homologous model of the real building, providing an abstract and analytical representation of it. The homologous model also enables a compositional balance among the parts of the building, suggesting esthetical features while supplying a coordination between the various functions of the public building. The full and thorough understanding of the project, starting from the scheme to the practical implementation is now more important than ever in order to plan and manage the maintenance, re-use and adaptation of the building: definition of compatible functions, distributive variations, adaptation to contemporary regulatory housing standards.