Precast concrete panels for industrial architecture: knowledge, upgrade and transformation

Research on industrial spaces at national and international level highlights some general topics of particular interest: the current scenario of brownfield sites, the reuse and renovation of factories, the issues of degradation and of the life cycle of building, the focus on industrial heritage as a subject of conservation and valorisation. The study is developed around these topics, aimed at examining them as regards the large industrial spaces made with the use of prefabricated concrete panels, focusing on the industrial architecture that, in Italy, between the ‘50s and ‘80s, represented the greatest occasion to experiment with prefabrication for designers and construction companies, often leading to notable outcomes, which are now objects of studies and protection. The knowledge of this heritage from the recent past start from the analysis and documentation - between architecture and technology - of the evolution and the current issues related to the use of precast concrete building systems for ‘large spaces’. The understanding of those dynamics allow to identify emergent architecture, meant as works of special values and meanings, which are worthy protection and may assume a central role in the redesign of the territory. In an industrial territory which continuously changes, these production spaces have to find new uses, in a perspective of reuse and renovation through a transformation process which must be respectful of values, restrictions and specific issues. The first phase of the research involves the issue of the knowledge of this particular built heritage, focusing - within the wide context of industrial architecture from the late twentieth century, on the most significant examples of the use of precast concrete panels for the building envelope. This investigation lead to the creation - as the main outcome - of a catalogue, in the form of a database and a website, about Concrete industrial architecture in Italy 1950-1980. The database is conceived as a tool for contextualising, documenting and evaluating the phenomenon of prefabricated industrial architecture in Italy; it could be extended and favours the analysis of technical aspects as well as issues of preservation, upgrade and transformation. The catalogue consists of a collection of industrial architectures characteristic of the period and includes detailed information about relevant prefabricated buildings. The second phase of the study involves the examination of the aspects related to quality and performance of industrial buildings. On the one hand, the issue of protection and preservation of the modern and contemporary industrial heritage emerges; on the other hand, the possibilities for reusing and upgrading it to current requirements are considered. In this sense, prefabricated industrial building are a significant sample of the Italian industrial building stock, which requires upgrade and refurbishment, considering specific architectural features as well as functional, structural, and environmental aspects. The study has focused especially on the issues of environmental quality and, taking into account the regional area, a general framework on the possible methodologies of assessment and strategies of energy retrofit has been discussed. In the final and third phase the study addresses the design aspects related to the transformation of industrial spaces, with an investigation on the form and the building envelope implemented for a significant piece of architecture: the Seleco building, designed in the ‘60s by the architect Gino Valle for the Zanussi Industries and characterised by an original façade system, which connoted it as a significant case in the context of prefabricated architecture for industry. The purpose of reuse and refurbishment of the building become thus the opportunity for proposing upgrade and transformation solutions for the building envelope, taking into account the issues of conservation, functional upgrade and energy retrofit, however respecting the formal and architectural values of the work. As regards the topics addressed by the study, the case-study building shows many elements of interest related to the Italian building tradition for industrial architecture, which combined the techniques and building systems of precast concrete with an aesthetic and architectural research oriented to experimentation, aesthetic and architectural approach oriented towards experimentation, modern architectural languages and the expression of the corporate identity through the workplace. In the current changing context of the spaces linked to the industry, these aspects have, on the one hand, directed policies towards the protection, and, on the other, pointed out new issues regarding the reuse and transformation of buildings. The development of proposals for the case-study is intended, in this sense, as the application of an approach and a series of solutions that are also portable to other buildings of the type under investigation.