The aim of the Studio is to provide students with operational and conceptual tools necessary to elaborate a preservation project, facing methodological and theoretical aspects in a multidisciplinary approach. The teaching will be conducted on the base of an in situ surveying exercise on the case study of which will be recognised its proper characters, its evolution, and identified the diagnosis of the degradation of structures and materials.

With particular care will be analysed the constructive features of the historical building, by recognising construction techniques, structural elements, materials and their physical and mechanical characteristics, behaviour to climatic and microclimate conditions, to highlight their peculiarities and vulnerabilities.

Following the analytical phase, that is retained unmissable to make conscious design decisions, the conservation design is developed, taking into account new forms of compatible use, with the necessary adjustments to mutated needs.

Students:

- gain knowledge and understanding of the principles, the techniques and tools governing operations for conservation and restoration of architectural heritage;

- gain knowledge and understanding of advanced representation and surveying techniques and tools;

- are capable of analysing the architectural features, construction techniques and materials of existing heritage;

- are capable of developing designs for architectural and urban conservation and restoration, with full awareness of the historical and technical issues;

- are capable of applying representation and surveying tools in close relation to the prefiguration of the conservation and restoration project;

The course intends to provide training for the preservation and compatible reuse of historic buildings.

The first part of the course will be covered with a quick summary of the methodology for preserving historic buildings, with theoretical lessons alternated with practical activities in survey and design. The second part will be entirely devoted to exercise (preservation and reuse project), group revisions and individual study. Groups will be constituted by, at most, three students. The Architectural Preservation course wishes to teach the way of a macroscopic survey of materials, technologies, decay and instabilities problems (causes and effects) and the main stages for a scientific approach to preservation and adaptive reuse. Finally, it teaches how to solve problems with a conservative, minimum and sustainable approach to intervention.

Teachers, if possible, will plan a visit to the place of study and subsequently create a digital laboratory supplementary to the traditional one for the parts relating to the inspection, survey and conservation and reuse project phases.

Teachers thus intend to provide students with the possibility, in virtual form, to access the site being surveyed and projected at any time during the course period. This is to gradually acquire the data necessary for the knowledge of the object of study and subsequently to a project closer to reality, limiting inspections to a minimum. Using the digital "twin" will also allow students greater and continuous control and access to the site during the survey and project phases.

The Architectural Preservation part is integrated with the Advanced Survey Techniques course with the main aim of studying and practising the architectural shape-knowledge processes as the basis for Cultural Heritage understanding.

The advanced Survey Techniques parts course will introduce the techniques and methodologies for 3D survey acquisition and 2D metric data extraction. During the first part of the Advanced Survey Techniques, theoretic notes about laser scanners, photogrammetric acquisition and data analysis will be provided. The second part will be dedicated to data elaborations, drawings and possibly a valuable model set-up for the preservation activities. 

The first phase of the work will be the study of the area from a geometric point of view (Architectural Survey) and materials, technologies, and conservation. The laboratory activities will be based on a real case of study.

Students will have to produce a general overview plan of the site, a detailed representation of the history of the site and the historic building, and the resume of the main information about the territory and the city. After that, students must provide the material, deterioration maps, and a project to outline the preservation interventions. Everything should be done on a scale of 1:50.

Subsequently, the exercise will focus on a reuse project, from the masterplan scale (1:500) to the representation scale of 1:50 and any details according to the teacher’s requests.

A detailed report will describe the whole work done for the survey and preservation part.

In the Advanced Survey Techniques module, two advanced survey technologies will be presented and experienced through practice, namely terrestrial laser scanner, as a method for an accurate real-time 3D survey of large and complex environments, and photogrammetry with the latest methods for geometry reconstruction using imagery of digital cameras. 

The proposed method will foresee integrating advanced technologies and direct survey and documentation to produce the material necessary to support conservation design. For this purpose, students will be asked to create accurate 2D drawings of complex environments (and possibly 3D models), rectified imagery and orthophotos according to the requirements of the case study. The 2D/3D data management will be run in the CAD environment, while the representation will aim at raster-vector integration. Other appropriate software solutions will be introduced to facilitate the overall geometric survey information processing, visualisation and management. Using a Windows environment is highly recommended and, for some activities, even mandatory (due to software requirements). A report describing a step-by-step surveying workflow will be requested. 

An additional bibliography about the specific covered topics will be provided during the course.

Passing the exam will attest to the acquired ability to apply appropriate techniques and methodologies on historic buildings and landscapes, operating at different scales with the autonomy of judgment and demonstrating learning and communication skills during the milestones and the final exam.

The lectures on Architectural Preservation part will be about the preservation principles and the working methodology applied to real examples. The main steps of the process will be the initial knowledge of the working area, the progressive deepening of materials and technologies characteristics, material and structures decay problems (causes and effects), and finally, the preservation project for a compatible reuse design. Much information about managing the project will be discussed during the revisions. For this, attending revisions is mandatory.

During the first part of the Advanced Survey Techniques, theoretic notes about laser scanners, photogrammetric acquisition and data analysis will be provided. The second part will be dedicated to data elaborations, drawings and model creation useful for the preservation part.

Knowledge about the history of restoration/preservation, historical building materials and technologies are essential for the course. The teacher will share papers and booklets to permit students who need more knowledge in the above topics to reach the necessary expertise.

Knowledge of the basic principles of direct/geometric surveys and superficial notions about photography would be preferable.

Active attending of lectures and revisions, not just the review of the own group, is mandatory for everyone. Student’s attendance will be evaluated in the final mark.

The following outcomes will be requested by every group:

Board 1 -GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE STUDIO AREA (1 board)
Board 2 -GEOMETRICAL SURVEY OF A PART OF THE CASTLE (1 board)
Booklet a -CARDS OF MATERIALS (booklet A4) + Digitization of everything using Digital Twin QR code
Booklet b -CARDS OF DETERIORATIONS (booklet A4 then digitalised on the platform) + Digitization of everything using Digital Twin QR code
Board 3 -MATERIALS MAPPINGS -DETERIORATION MAPPING + PRESERVATION PROJECT + Digitization of everything using Digital Twin QR code
Board 4 –MASTERPLAN (1 panel) + Digitization of everything using Digital Twin QR code
Board 5 –ADAPTIVE REUSE DESIGN (1 board 1:50) + Digitization of everything using Digital Twin QR code
Booklet c -REPORT (booklet A4 of describing the whole work done)

• SDG4 - QUALITY EDUCATION
• SDG11 - SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
• SDG12 - RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION

Verification in progress

Two milestones with evaluation of the work done will be organized. One will take place at the end of the 1st part of the course  (General overview of the site, geometrical survey, material and technologies survey, deterioration and instabilities survey) and the second at the end of the 2nd part of the course (Preservation design, Masterplan, Reuse project).

During the two module milestones, each group must submit the requested steps of work, and the teacher will evaluate them. The final submission of the whole correct work by every group will close the course.

For the Advanced Survey Techniques part, one evaluation step is planned immediately after the theoretical part.

Final exam

The final verification consists in delivering, discussion and judgement of the last, complete and correct whole work. In particular, the final evaluation will include:

• The evaluation of the graphic work elaborations will consist of the group evaluation of the graphic design, survey and project activities qualities.
• The evaluation of all assigned descriptive technical reports.

For the survey module, the final examination will consist of the presentation of the survey job (drawing and eventually 3D modelling). It will be evaluated: i) the ability to manage and extract data for 3D point cloud data, ii) the quality of the final representation and iii) the use of the survey products for the preservation activities. This group job evaluation and the individual midterm test will constitute the final personal evaluation of the survey part.

Different weights in the percentage of the two courses (6cfu-4cfu) will be considered for the final grade.

The average of all the marks (Test + 1st Milestone + 2nd Milestone + Final submission of the work) will constitute the final grade for admission to the exam.

The marks could be diversified within the group components according to the quality of the individual work and a different score related to the milestone tests.

About the final tests, a minimum of 18/30 for both integrated courses is necessary to pass the exam.

For both parts, both native working files (DWGs…) and final pdf files must be delivered no less than four days before the exam. The printed version must be presented during the final discussion.

The order, punctuality, and completeness of the final files and the printed version will be the object of judgment by the professors in the final mark.

So, the final APS exam consists in:
1-GROUP Presentation of the whole correct printed work done during the courses;
2-INDIVIDUAL Tests about the topics of the courses.
The mark will be influenced not only by the completeness and quality of the work done but also by the following:
1-The real attendance and participation in the whole activities (lectures, visits, revisions, Milestones);
2-The completeness and order of things done and uploaded (in time) on the platform.