Stefano Della Torre | Politecnico di Milano (original) (raw)
Papers by Stefano Della Torre
CITTÀ CHE SI ADATTANO? ADAPTIVE CITIES? edited by Rosa Tamborrino, 2024
The paper deals with the issues involved in the reuse of Como Psychiatric Hospital, built 1878- 1... more The paper deals with the issues involved in the reuse of Como Psychiatric Hospital, built 1878-
1882, adapted to new functions after Basaglia law, currently used only for a small part and badly
maintained. The focus is on the identification of some characters, which should be conserved and
elaborated in a coevolutionary reuse perspective, and the aim is also to highlight some opportunities
given by the typology of the buildings, which could allow an easier and sustainable reuse.
La Conservazione Preventiova e Programmata. Venti anni dopo il Codice dei Beni culturali, 2024
The paper gives an overview of the ongoing project Take Care, granted in the framework of the PRI... more The paper gives an overview of the ongoing project Take Care, granted in the framework of the PRIMA program by Compagnia di S. Paolo, Turin. The project deals with the preventive and planned conservation of the Royal Museums in Turin.
Besides organizing a three years remedial works program on several parts of the complex, the project encompasses the draft of a comprehensive conservation plan and the development of an interdisciplinary research on the digitalisation of conservation planning, including new perspectives on knowledge management, surveying and digital informative modelling of the building. The structure of the project fosters the applied character of the research, which explores the frontiers of digitalisation, including AI techniques to speed up the most time consuming phases of the work, but keeps centred on facing also the feasibility issues related to process innovation for the implementation of planned conservation procedures. The ongoing project already shows some outcomes, both in detecting and operating practical problems of the available tools and of the new perspectives of digitalizing the processes in cultural heritage sector.
INTRECCI, 2023
The paper deals with the concept of coevolution as implemented in many different scientific field... more The paper deals with the concept of coevolution as implemented in many different scientific fields besides Biology, exploring the issues related to its transfer to the conservation of historic buildings. A coevolutionary approach can contribute to setting the theoretical framework of preventive and planned conservation, entailing a long-term vision; to understand and practice the ideas of co-created and evolving values; to develop participatory practices for the sake of social, economic and territorial sustainability of conservation and regeneration processes. On that basis, it is possible to describe also a coevolutionary design methodology, focused on a ternary coevolution between requirements, knowledge and solutions.
Atmosphere
The indoor climate of non-climatized churches is usually subject to cyclical fluctuations of temp... more The indoor climate of non-climatized churches is usually subject to cyclical fluctuations of temperature and relative humidity induced by external climate conditions which might be dampened by the high thermal capacity of their envelope. However, several phenomena affect their indoor climate (e.g., internal gains due to people and artificial lighting, air infiltration, etc.), which lead to environmental variations that might jeopardize the artworks contained within. In particular, one of the most influential parameters that may affect non-climatized churches is the massive and intermittent presence of people who constantly visit their spaces. In such regard, long-term monitoring allows the collection of environmental data with different building operation conditions and visitor fluxes. This paper analyses the indoor climate of the Milan Cathedral (Duomo di Milano) in Italy for three continuous years (including the lockdown period that occurred in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic...
Technical Annals
Since 2019, the authors carried out a didactical experience trough the Preservation Studio worksh... more Since 2019, the authors carried out a didactical experience trough the Preservation Studio workshop in the historical center of Vimercate, a town in the north east area of Milan, implementing a convention agreement between the Mu-nicipality and the Atheneum. The convention was arranged in order to set the relationship between the three academic courses of the Politecnico di Milano and the administration of Vimercate, supporting the teaching staff by providing ac-cessibility to various services and some public properties located in the city-cen-ter. Thanks to this kind of agreement, the courses could be supported in their activities by document centers, public associations and the members of the local community, while the teaching staff offered a constant sharing of the main activ-ities by social media and periodical disseminations through public lectures. After maturing several years of didactical workshops on the main buildings of the his-torical center of Vimercate, this paper sho...
ArcHistoR, 2023
http://pkp.unirc.it/ojs/index.php/archistor/article/view/932/850 The paper introduces new arch... more http://pkp.unirc.it/ojs/index.php/archistor/article/view/932/850
The paper introduces new archival documents concerning the Palazzo del Governo in Novara, attributed to Pellegrino Tibaldi, and not ignored by the literature. The newly discovered documents clarify the first building phase of the palace, identify Cesare Casati count of Conturbia as the patron, 1571 as the date when the building was started, the suppliers of bricks and carved stones, Giovanni Antonio Piotti as the designer and contractor. The palace had already been investigated in its changes after 18 th century, whilst the analysis of unpublished descriptions allows to better understand the original structure, verified on the geometrical survey. The paper contains several reflections on the use of printed sources and on the kind of professionalism in a time, when the distinction between builders and architects was not yet perfectly carried out. The contribution comes to be added to other studies, which better defined Tibaldi's catalogue, giving back to Piotti a number of buildings, such as Palazzo Gallio in Gravedona, the Villa Pliniana in Torno, the church of S. Croce in Riva S. Vitale; furthermore, the paper opens some new hypotheses on the strategies of patronage and architectural production in Lombardy in the age of Philip II.
Digital Transformation of the Design, Construction and Management Processes of the Built Environment, 2019
The paper deals with the research issues concerning Historic Building Information Modelling, deve... more The paper deals with the research issues concerning Historic Building Information Modelling, developing the outcomes of the national project BHIMM, carried out in 2017. The topic has a strategic value, as the relevant new tools enable the kind of Knowledge Management required by the Planned Conservation vision. The key point is the step from implementing BIM authoring software to build a single parametric model, to the definition of several domain-specific parametric models fit for each of the many activities involved in built heritage conservation process. As designed for specific aims, the models can differ both in accuracy and in identification of the objects. This vision moves the research agenda towards exchange platforms and semantic interoperability, pointing out the development of specific ontologies as a crucial task to be carried out in the next years.
in "Arte Lombarda", 195-196, pp. 36-48, 2022
the paper describes the story of a Milanese palace, not considered by modern literature as it was... more the paper describes the story of a Milanese palace, not considered by modern literature as it was destroyed in 1943 bombings. It was inhabited by Luigi Cagnola, who restored it in Neoclassical forms, but above all it had been commissioned in 1565 by Senator Danese Filiodoni, a prominent figure in Spanish Milan. the elements that it is possible to ascertain on the basis of the retrieved documents are sufficient to draw a new and not negligible piece in the mosaic of the architectural production in Milan in that peculiar time of transition.
Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, 2021
Since the introduction of expert systems for the preservation of Cultural Heritage, several resea... more Since the introduction of expert systems for the preservation of Cultural Heritage, several research projects developed codified procedures for the condition assessment of the materials composing historical buildings. The identification of the decay typologies observed on the materials was considered a first step for supporting future interventions on the historical surfaces of the buildings. This kind of formal tool, providing data collected over the course of time by periodical survey campaigns, showed also other potentialities, like damage prediction and risk assessment. In recent years, the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo (VFD), the board managing the Cathedral of Milan, developed new approaches for preventing the risks connected to its rich apparatus of stone decorations. Based on the wide experience matured in a long-lasting calibration of good practices set for preserving the architectural features of the temple, the VFD adopted recently a new analytical procedure, set on behalf of the association of the Italian cathedrals (AFI), for detecting risk conditions and evaluating the evolution of decays and their potential consequences. The proposed method was studied by the authors, within the convention between Veneranda Fabbrica and Politecnico, in order to verify its reliability through several simulations of different scenarios. Moreover, this study pointed up the difficulties concerning an objective evaluation of the parameters on which the analytical procedure is based and therefore the need of defining criteria for an effective and reliable data gathering and processing to support decision-making. The expected results should provide alarm in case of dangerous scenarios and recommendations concerning the planning of preservation actions: the updating of the inspection interval, the necessity of further diagnostic investigations and the urgency of repair interventions.
This volume discusses the role of cultural districts in fostering economic development at the loc... more This volume discusses the role of cultural districts in fostering economic development at the local level
Public properties constitute a wide range of real estate as well a significant cultural heritage,... more Public properties constitute a wide range of real estate as well a significant cultural heritage, characterized by an important strategic value as well as a social and economic potential, which are required to be correctly valorized. Considering the difficulties in obtaining funds, the deficiency of public financing aimed at conserving immovable heritage, whose existence must be guaranteed by the State, and the frequent lack of collaboration between the different subjects involved in the process, it is necessary to focus upon new possible solutions and to improve business models involving different actors. Although an introduction of private business model is widely recommended, this aspect produces conflicts versus consolidated views, which state that the conservation of cultural heritage as common goods pertains only to public responsibility. Beyond what the previous theories state, a new opportunity could be constituted by the adoption of an up-to-date approach that moves the limits of cultural heritage impacts and foresees the converging of investments from different sectors, making other contributions interact with the cultural field. Once cultural heritage starts collaborating with other productive areas, such as labor market and creative industries, it is unavoidable for the private to become more deeply implicated in exploiting its potential, through the adoption of new business models. These processes entail the research of new dialogues, which induce a deep revision of traditional approaches, but require the adoption of change management tools, in order to involve people, as the participation in the process is a crucial requirement to success
a cura di S. Della Torre, T. Mannoni, V. Pracch
The paper aims at illustrating how the practices of planned preventive conservation may interact ... more The paper aims at illustrating how the practices of planned preventive conservation may interact with structural behavior of old buildings. First, the effectiveness of regular maintenance will be underlined, also referring to preparedness to seismic risk, and other major risks as well. Many proves have been gathered that vulnerability increases as the lack of maintenance leads to decay of devices, such as iron or timber ties, which were required by the original structural conception. Second, preparedness to risk has also a top-down meaning, traditionally expressed in tools like risk maps used for support to decision making. Mass-screening of vulnerability has already been implemented as a practice capable to reduce the impact of natural hazards, as for instance earthquakes and storms. These tools can be used for enhancing programs and therefore the quality of interventions. Third, as the understanding of preventive conservation has been enlarged by the latest researches, the theme o...
Proceedings HERITAGE 2022 - International Conference on Vernacular Heritage: Culture, People and Sustainability
Vernacular architecture has become a full part of our cultural heritage, since it constitutes evi... more Vernacular architecture has become a full part of our cultural heritage, since it constitutes evidence of our material culture and is tied to specific historical/geographical contexts. This type of ‘lesser’ heritage has withstood various transformations over time, whether negative transformations due to abandonment, or positive transformations due to expansion and renovation work on historical buildings or their simple adaptation to new living conditions. Thus, vernacular architecture often presents intrinsic vulnerabilities resulting from all the transformations it has undergone. The presence of this type of vulnerability within the vernacular built heritage also constitutes an even greater risk for buildings located in seismic areas, as this could lead to an increase in the level of damage due to an earthquake, often with irreversible losses. Achieving a good level of knowledge about the vulnerability of historical buildings in seismic areas is therefore important for their adequa...
CITTÀ CHE SI ADATTANO? ADAPTIVE CITIES? edited by Rosa Tamborrino, 2024
The paper deals with the issues involved in the reuse of Como Psychiatric Hospital, built 1878- 1... more The paper deals with the issues involved in the reuse of Como Psychiatric Hospital, built 1878-
1882, adapted to new functions after Basaglia law, currently used only for a small part and badly
maintained. The focus is on the identification of some characters, which should be conserved and
elaborated in a coevolutionary reuse perspective, and the aim is also to highlight some opportunities
given by the typology of the buildings, which could allow an easier and sustainable reuse.
La Conservazione Preventiova e Programmata. Venti anni dopo il Codice dei Beni culturali, 2024
The paper gives an overview of the ongoing project Take Care, granted in the framework of the PRI... more The paper gives an overview of the ongoing project Take Care, granted in the framework of the PRIMA program by Compagnia di S. Paolo, Turin. The project deals with the preventive and planned conservation of the Royal Museums in Turin.
Besides organizing a three years remedial works program on several parts of the complex, the project encompasses the draft of a comprehensive conservation plan and the development of an interdisciplinary research on the digitalisation of conservation planning, including new perspectives on knowledge management, surveying and digital informative modelling of the building. The structure of the project fosters the applied character of the research, which explores the frontiers of digitalisation, including AI techniques to speed up the most time consuming phases of the work, but keeps centred on facing also the feasibility issues related to process innovation for the implementation of planned conservation procedures. The ongoing project already shows some outcomes, both in detecting and operating practical problems of the available tools and of the new perspectives of digitalizing the processes in cultural heritage sector.
INTRECCI, 2023
The paper deals with the concept of coevolution as implemented in many different scientific field... more The paper deals with the concept of coevolution as implemented in many different scientific fields besides Biology, exploring the issues related to its transfer to the conservation of historic buildings. A coevolutionary approach can contribute to setting the theoretical framework of preventive and planned conservation, entailing a long-term vision; to understand and practice the ideas of co-created and evolving values; to develop participatory practices for the sake of social, economic and territorial sustainability of conservation and regeneration processes. On that basis, it is possible to describe also a coevolutionary design methodology, focused on a ternary coevolution between requirements, knowledge and solutions.
Atmosphere
The indoor climate of non-climatized churches is usually subject to cyclical fluctuations of temp... more The indoor climate of non-climatized churches is usually subject to cyclical fluctuations of temperature and relative humidity induced by external climate conditions which might be dampened by the high thermal capacity of their envelope. However, several phenomena affect their indoor climate (e.g., internal gains due to people and artificial lighting, air infiltration, etc.), which lead to environmental variations that might jeopardize the artworks contained within. In particular, one of the most influential parameters that may affect non-climatized churches is the massive and intermittent presence of people who constantly visit their spaces. In such regard, long-term monitoring allows the collection of environmental data with different building operation conditions and visitor fluxes. This paper analyses the indoor climate of the Milan Cathedral (Duomo di Milano) in Italy for three continuous years (including the lockdown period that occurred in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic...
Technical Annals
Since 2019, the authors carried out a didactical experience trough the Preservation Studio worksh... more Since 2019, the authors carried out a didactical experience trough the Preservation Studio workshop in the historical center of Vimercate, a town in the north east area of Milan, implementing a convention agreement between the Mu-nicipality and the Atheneum. The convention was arranged in order to set the relationship between the three academic courses of the Politecnico di Milano and the administration of Vimercate, supporting the teaching staff by providing ac-cessibility to various services and some public properties located in the city-cen-ter. Thanks to this kind of agreement, the courses could be supported in their activities by document centers, public associations and the members of the local community, while the teaching staff offered a constant sharing of the main activ-ities by social media and periodical disseminations through public lectures. After maturing several years of didactical workshops on the main buildings of the his-torical center of Vimercate, this paper sho...
ArcHistoR, 2023
http://pkp.unirc.it/ojs/index.php/archistor/article/view/932/850 The paper introduces new arch... more http://pkp.unirc.it/ojs/index.php/archistor/article/view/932/850
The paper introduces new archival documents concerning the Palazzo del Governo in Novara, attributed to Pellegrino Tibaldi, and not ignored by the literature. The newly discovered documents clarify the first building phase of the palace, identify Cesare Casati count of Conturbia as the patron, 1571 as the date when the building was started, the suppliers of bricks and carved stones, Giovanni Antonio Piotti as the designer and contractor. The palace had already been investigated in its changes after 18 th century, whilst the analysis of unpublished descriptions allows to better understand the original structure, verified on the geometrical survey. The paper contains several reflections on the use of printed sources and on the kind of professionalism in a time, when the distinction between builders and architects was not yet perfectly carried out. The contribution comes to be added to other studies, which better defined Tibaldi's catalogue, giving back to Piotti a number of buildings, such as Palazzo Gallio in Gravedona, the Villa Pliniana in Torno, the church of S. Croce in Riva S. Vitale; furthermore, the paper opens some new hypotheses on the strategies of patronage and architectural production in Lombardy in the age of Philip II.
Digital Transformation of the Design, Construction and Management Processes of the Built Environment, 2019
The paper deals with the research issues concerning Historic Building Information Modelling, deve... more The paper deals with the research issues concerning Historic Building Information Modelling, developing the outcomes of the national project BHIMM, carried out in 2017. The topic has a strategic value, as the relevant new tools enable the kind of Knowledge Management required by the Planned Conservation vision. The key point is the step from implementing BIM authoring software to build a single parametric model, to the definition of several domain-specific parametric models fit for each of the many activities involved in built heritage conservation process. As designed for specific aims, the models can differ both in accuracy and in identification of the objects. This vision moves the research agenda towards exchange platforms and semantic interoperability, pointing out the development of specific ontologies as a crucial task to be carried out in the next years.
in "Arte Lombarda", 195-196, pp. 36-48, 2022
the paper describes the story of a Milanese palace, not considered by modern literature as it was... more the paper describes the story of a Milanese palace, not considered by modern literature as it was destroyed in 1943 bombings. It was inhabited by Luigi Cagnola, who restored it in Neoclassical forms, but above all it had been commissioned in 1565 by Senator Danese Filiodoni, a prominent figure in Spanish Milan. the elements that it is possible to ascertain on the basis of the retrieved documents are sufficient to draw a new and not negligible piece in the mosaic of the architectural production in Milan in that peculiar time of transition.
Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, 2021
Since the introduction of expert systems for the preservation of Cultural Heritage, several resea... more Since the introduction of expert systems for the preservation of Cultural Heritage, several research projects developed codified procedures for the condition assessment of the materials composing historical buildings. The identification of the decay typologies observed on the materials was considered a first step for supporting future interventions on the historical surfaces of the buildings. This kind of formal tool, providing data collected over the course of time by periodical survey campaigns, showed also other potentialities, like damage prediction and risk assessment. In recent years, the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo (VFD), the board managing the Cathedral of Milan, developed new approaches for preventing the risks connected to its rich apparatus of stone decorations. Based on the wide experience matured in a long-lasting calibration of good practices set for preserving the architectural features of the temple, the VFD adopted recently a new analytical procedure, set on behalf of the association of the Italian cathedrals (AFI), for detecting risk conditions and evaluating the evolution of decays and their potential consequences. The proposed method was studied by the authors, within the convention between Veneranda Fabbrica and Politecnico, in order to verify its reliability through several simulations of different scenarios. Moreover, this study pointed up the difficulties concerning an objective evaluation of the parameters on which the analytical procedure is based and therefore the need of defining criteria for an effective and reliable data gathering and processing to support decision-making. The expected results should provide alarm in case of dangerous scenarios and recommendations concerning the planning of preservation actions: the updating of the inspection interval, the necessity of further diagnostic investigations and the urgency of repair interventions.
This volume discusses the role of cultural districts in fostering economic development at the loc... more This volume discusses the role of cultural districts in fostering economic development at the local level
Public properties constitute a wide range of real estate as well a significant cultural heritage,... more Public properties constitute a wide range of real estate as well a significant cultural heritage, characterized by an important strategic value as well as a social and economic potential, which are required to be correctly valorized. Considering the difficulties in obtaining funds, the deficiency of public financing aimed at conserving immovable heritage, whose existence must be guaranteed by the State, and the frequent lack of collaboration between the different subjects involved in the process, it is necessary to focus upon new possible solutions and to improve business models involving different actors. Although an introduction of private business model is widely recommended, this aspect produces conflicts versus consolidated views, which state that the conservation of cultural heritage as common goods pertains only to public responsibility. Beyond what the previous theories state, a new opportunity could be constituted by the adoption of an up-to-date approach that moves the limits of cultural heritage impacts and foresees the converging of investments from different sectors, making other contributions interact with the cultural field. Once cultural heritage starts collaborating with other productive areas, such as labor market and creative industries, it is unavoidable for the private to become more deeply implicated in exploiting its potential, through the adoption of new business models. These processes entail the research of new dialogues, which induce a deep revision of traditional approaches, but require the adoption of change management tools, in order to involve people, as the participation in the process is a crucial requirement to success
a cura di S. Della Torre, T. Mannoni, V. Pracch
The paper aims at illustrating how the practices of planned preventive conservation may interact ... more The paper aims at illustrating how the practices of planned preventive conservation may interact with structural behavior of old buildings. First, the effectiveness of regular maintenance will be underlined, also referring to preparedness to seismic risk, and other major risks as well. Many proves have been gathered that vulnerability increases as the lack of maintenance leads to decay of devices, such as iron or timber ties, which were required by the original structural conception. Second, preparedness to risk has also a top-down meaning, traditionally expressed in tools like risk maps used for support to decision making. Mass-screening of vulnerability has already been implemented as a practice capable to reduce the impact of natural hazards, as for instance earthquakes and storms. These tools can be used for enhancing programs and therefore the quality of interventions. Third, as the understanding of preventive conservation has been enlarged by the latest researches, the theme o...
Proceedings HERITAGE 2022 - International Conference on Vernacular Heritage: Culture, People and Sustainability
Vernacular architecture has become a full part of our cultural heritage, since it constitutes evi... more Vernacular architecture has become a full part of our cultural heritage, since it constitutes evidence of our material culture and is tied to specific historical/geographical contexts. This type of ‘lesser’ heritage has withstood various transformations over time, whether negative transformations due to abandonment, or positive transformations due to expansion and renovation work on historical buildings or their simple adaptation to new living conditions. Thus, vernacular architecture often presents intrinsic vulnerabilities resulting from all the transformations it has undergone. The presence of this type of vulnerability within the vernacular built heritage also constitutes an even greater risk for buildings located in seismic areas, as this could lead to an increase in the level of damage due to an earthquake, often with irreversible losses. Achieving a good level of knowledge about the vulnerability of historical buildings in seismic areas is therefore important for their adequa...
Restauro dell’architettura Per un progetto di qualità coordinamento di Stefano Della Torre e Valentina Russo (https://sira-restauroarchitettonico.it/pubblicazioni-sira/atti-convegno-nazionale-sira/), 2023
Gestione della conoscenza e monitoraggio delle trasformazioni nei processi di conservazione progr... more Gestione della conoscenza e monitoraggio delle trasformazioni nei processi di conservazione programmata del patrimonio architettonico religioso nel progetto Chiese del centro storico di Torino.
Cfr.: "Prefazione" e le voci: "Storia dell'arte" "Restauro" (con S. Della Torre e M. Montella) "... more Cfr.:
"Prefazione"
e le voci:
"Storia dell'arte"
"Restauro" (con S. Della Torre e M. Montella)
"Conservazione preventiva e programmata" (con S. Della Torre e M. Montella)
"Valorizzazione" (con M. Montella)
Ringraziamenti 11 PARTE PRIMA La conservazione programmata: una strategia per il patrimonio stori... more Ringraziamenti 11 PARTE PRIMA La conservazione programmata: una strategia per il patrimonio storico-architettonico (Stefano Della Torre) 000
This copy is provisional, awaiting a machine-readable version. The authors discuss every aspect ... more This copy is provisional, awaiting a machine-readable version.
The authors discuss every aspect of the first great Gesuit church built in Italy. On the basis of the exhaustive notarial documentation assembled here, the history of the contruction, its form and symbolism, the structure, the original octagonal plan devised by Tibaldi then replaced by the present rectangular plan, the numerous drawings, the confessionals, paintings and the high altar are all examined. Pellegrino's architectural style in all it forms is set against the history of the use of the orders in the Cinquecento and the style of the church is itself discussed in detail.
In the Appendix of Documents all the notarial material is presented.