Forging and Promoting a Renewed Building Culture
Upcycling Architecture in Italy. Forging and Promoting a Renewed Building Culture aims to contextualize, analyze, re-elaborate, and disseminate the theory and practice of the Upcycling of building materials at the architectural scale. The research project revolves around the concept of Upcycling, and the related principle of Design for Disassembly (DfD), applied to the scale of architectural design and understood as the critical reuse of building materials, capable of avoiding a new entry into the production cycle.
On the one hand, the project undertakes a thorough historical survey on the topic from a theoretical and design angle, throughout Europe and with specific attention to Italy, from 1945 onwards. The goal is to gain new knowledge on the European culture of construction from the last seven decades, observing it through this specific lens. In order to do so, the outlining of a historical and theoretical framework goes alongside the filing of best practices across the continent.
In parallel, the project intends to encourage the application of Upcycling practices in the regeneration of the existing post WWII built heritage in Italy, and more generally to foster a global update of the Italian contemporary construction culture. It has a strong drive towards dissemination outside the academic circles, and aims to actively contribute to the public debate on these themes, particularly topical in a historical moment marked by momentous technological and energy rethinking.
The research frame, in fact, is defined in reaction to a few crucial issues of our times, many of which relate to contemporary energy and environmental crises, exacerbated by the current geopolitical situation. Considerations on the EU policies on the rational use of building materials, the aging of the Italian built heritage, and the rise in the prices of building materials further contributed to specify the research topic. From this perspective, the project wishes to bring a specific and significant contribution to the strategies of the European Green Deal, and related initiatives.
Research Units
Politecnico di Torino
Gabriele Neri (Principal Investigator-Associate Investigator), Tenure-Track Assistant Professor (RTDb) in Architectural History
Lorenzo Savio, Associate Professor in Architectural Technology
Alessandro Benetti, Research Fellow
Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”
Ilaria Giannetti (Associate Investigator), Associate Professor in Architectural Engineering
Antonella Falzetti, Full Professor in Architectural and Urban Design
Sapienza Università di Roma
Alberto Bologna (Associate Investigator), Associate Professor in Architectural and Urban Design
Viola Bertini, Tenure-Track Assistant Professor (RTDb) in Architectural and Urban Design
Roberto Germanò, Research Fellow
Politecnico di Milano
Josep-Maria Garcia-Fuentes (Associate Investigator), Associate Professor in Architectural and Urban Design
Team members
Gabriele Neri
Principal Investigator
Associate Investigator - Politecnico di Torino
Tenure-Track Assistant Professor (RTDb) in Architectural History
Gabriele Neri (Milan, 1982) currently is Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Architectural History at Politecnico di Torino. He was Weinberg Fellow at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Columbia University, NY (Spring 2022); Mâitre d’enseignement et de recherche at the Academy of Architecture, Mendrisio, CH (2019-22), and Adjunct Professor at Politecnico di Milano (2011-22). In 2018-21 he was member of the Board of Directors of the Triennale Design Museum, Milan.
Alberto Bologna
Associate Investigator - Sapienza Università di Roma
Associate Professor in Architectural and Urban Design
Alberto Bologna is an architect, PhD, and an Associate Professor in architectural and urban design at the Faculty of Architecture / Department of Architecture and Design, Sapienza University of Rome. He has been a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at Sapienza University of Rome, a fixed-term Assistant Professor at Politecnico di Torino and a post-doc scientist at EPFL Lausanne, as well as Adjunct Professor at several universities (Politecnico di Milano, Universities of Genoa and Ferrara, SUPSI).
Ilaria Giannetti
Associate Investigator - Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata"
Associate Professor in Technical Architecture
Ilaria Giannetti, architect, is Associate Professor of Technical Architecture at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Her research activity, conducted within national and international projects, regards Construction History, focusing on engineering history, the relationship between construction techniques and architectural languages in the twentieth century, and the experimental valorization of historical archives related to the built heritage.
Josep-Maria Garcia-Fuentes
Associate Investigator - Politecnico di Milano
Associate Professor in Architectural and Urban Design
Architect and Associate Professor at the Politecnico di Milano (2022). He has been an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape of Newcastle University (2013-2022) and Assistant Professor and vice-dean at the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura del Vallès-Barcelona of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (2010-2013). He researches on the connections between architecture, the idea of nature, ecology and the environment, and experimental preservation.
Lorenzo Savio
Associate Professor in Architectural Technology
Lorenzo Savio, is an architect, PhD, and Associate Professor of Architectural Technology at the Department of Architecture and Design at Politecnico di Torino. His research interests extend to inclusive design, low environmental impact materials for sustainable architecture in a circular economy context, and the conservation and refurbishment of rural and modern architectural heritage, with a specific interest in building envelope retrofit and integrating renewable energy systems in buildings.
Alessandro Benetti
Research Fellow
Alessandro Benetti is an architect, PhD in history of modern and contemporary architecture and Postdoctoral Researcher at Politecnico di Torino, Department of Architecture and Design (DAD). He has been an Adjunct Professor at Université Rennes 2 and ENSA Nantes. He collaborates with Domus and has contributed to leading European architecture magazines (Abitare, Arch+, Area, D’Architectures). He is a member of the Board of Directors of ANCSA, the Italian Association for Historic-Artistic Centers.
Viola Bertini
Tenure-Track Assistant Professor (RTDb) in Architectural and Urban Design
Viola Bertini, PhD architect, is a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Architecture and Urban Design at Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Architecture and Design. She has been a Research Fellow at Iuav, a Research Consultant at AUB, a Visiting Researcher at the University of Évora, and a Visiting Researcher/Professor at the University of Seville. She coordinates the scientific secretariat of the international network of schools of architecture Designing Heritage Tourism Landscapes.
Roberto Germanò
Research Fellow
Roberto Germanò is an architect, PhD in Architecture - Theories and Design and Postdoctoral Researcher at Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Architecture and Design (DiAP). He has been a subject expert in Interior and Exhibition Design since 2022. In 2022, he started his own professional studio in Rome. Since 2023 he has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Naples “Federico II” for courses in “Temporary spaces design” and “Layout interior design”.
Antonella Falzetti
Full Professor of Architectural and Urban Design
Antonella Falzetti, Architect and PhD, is Full Professor of Architectural and Urban Design at the Department of Civil Engineering and Computer Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata. She leads the Architectural Design Laboratory at DICII and she is president and partner of the university spin-off DoT5-Lab. She leads scientific researches on the relationship between contemporary design and the valorization of anthropic and natural landscape. She conducts applied research on adaptive and sustainable micro-architectures.
Colophon
Upcycling Architecture in Italy. Forging and Promoting a Renewed Building Culture PRIN 2022 PNRR.
Funded by European Union – Next Generation EU
Research Unit Leaders
Gabriele Neri, Politecnico di Torino
Alberto Bologna, Sapienza Università di Roma
Ilaria Giannetti, Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”
Josep-Maria Garcia-Fuentes, Politecnico di Milano
Content editing
Alessandro Benetti, Politecnico di Torino
Roberto Germanò, Sapienza Università di Roma
Design
Visual identity by Cinzia D’Emidio
Website by Alex Piacentini
Typeface: The Future by Klim