AIMS AND CONTENT

TEACHING METHODS

1 - A series of lectures, including those by experts from the professional, business, and institutional worlds, designed to provide a coherent overview of the tools and technical and operational issues of architectural restoration. Specifically, the following will be illustrated: methods of analysis and non-destructive diagnosis; the content, forms, and requirements of restoration projects;

2 - The actual laboratory activity, conducted by students, usually in small groups under the guidance of the instructor, will consist of the survey and analysis (historical-archaeological, technological, and state of conservation) of a historical artifact and the planning of its restoration. The artifact, or an architecturally significant part of it, will be chosen with the instructor at the start of the course. Throughout the course, mandatory periodic reviews and submissions of progress reports will be provided, in the form of written and graphic reports that will be corrected for possible reworking and preparation of the final work to be submitted for examination.

Teaching activities may avail themselves, at the times and in the ways indicated from time to time, of the services of the Laboratory for Analytical Methods for Restoration and the History of Built Structures (MARSC) and of the external collaboration of the Institute of the History of Material Culture (in particular for carrying out analyses on natural and artificial stone materials and for any mensiochronological dating).

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The lesson plan includes the illustration of the following topics for subsequent application to the case studies proposed by the students:

The restoration project: methodological premises, themes, and problems
On-site inspections and preliminary investigations to frame and contextualize the building undergoing restoration
Use of simplified digital photo-rectification programs for preparing the basic drawings, with reference to the necessary longitudinal survey
Pre-industrial construction materials and techniques, with particular reference to Genoa and Liguria: stone and brick masonry; vaulted floors, wooden floors, and roofs; Plasters and coloring and decoration systems
Methods and tools for the historical-archaeological analysis of architecture: stratigraphic analysis, absolute dating tools (mensiochronology, chronotypology, mortar dating, analysis and dating of masonry techniques, etc.), the use of written, cartographic, and iconographic sources
Material degradation: recognition of degradation phenomena, main agents and processes of degradation (rising water, leaching, infiltration, and condensation, biodeterioration, degradation by pollutants, etc.), identification of the causes and diagnosis of degradation
Restoration intervention techniques: removal, disassembly and reassembly, consolidation and pre-consolidation, cleaning and disinfestation, dehumidification, additions, protection
Illustration of restoration projects and interventions (including through invited seminars)

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

S.F. MUSSO, Recupero e restauro degli edifici storici. Guida pratica al rilievo e alla diagnostica. V edizione aggiornata e ampliata, EPC, Roma, 2025.

A. BOATO, Architettura a Genova nel tempo. Tecniche costruttive e strumenti di datazione, All'Insegna del Giglio, Sesto Fiorentino, 2024 (disponibile in opensource su Google Libri e sul sito della casa editrice).

C. ARCOLAO, La diagnosi nel restauro architettonico. Tecniche, procedure, protocolli, Marsilio, Venezia 2008.

A. BOATO, L’archeologia in architettura. Misurazioni, stratigrafie, datazioni, restauro, Marsilio, Venezia 2008.

S.F. MUSSO, Tecniche di restauro. Aggiornamento, UTET, Torino 2013 (con schede operative su DVD) o, in alternativa, B.P. TORSELLO, S.F. MUSSO, Tecniche di restauro, UTET, Torino 2003.

G. CARBONARA, Trattato di restauro architettonico, UTET, Torino 1996.

Data la vastità e la complessità degli argomenti affrontati, più dettagliati e puntuali riferimenti bibliografici potranno essere forniti durante lo svolgimento delle attività didattiche, insieme a materiali di supporto che consentano un agevole accesso alle informazioni di base.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

see the Architectural Restoration Laboratory information sheet.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

see the Architectural Restoration Laboratory information sheet.