Valuing our heritage: how the past shapes our future

Who doubts that reuse is the key to sustainability? Who does not throw empty jam or yoghurt pots into the proper recycling bin? While all this is obvious for glass, plastic and metal, it also applies to architecture, urban planning and landscaping, even if we do not always consider it.

Beyond energy-efficient solutions, sustainability essentially means making the most of what already exists, even if it has fallen into disuse over time. In other words, preserving and enhancing the heritage we have received from the past, whether recent or distant. This also prevents the consumption of new land.

These values extend far beyond the ecological sphere. They also involve safeguarding and recovering a precious heritage of knowledge, traditions, methods and techniques, both in construction and beyond. This heritage can offer valuable insights for the future, paving new paths not only in architecture, but also in urban planning and social development.

Politecnico di Torino is involved in numerous highly significant projects in the fields of restoration, industrial archaeology and landscape. It has gained considerable experience and authority in the field of architectural heritage enhancement, both nationally and internationally.

As Michele Bonino, Politecnico's Director of the Department of Architecture and Design (DAD), explains: ‘The consistent focus on sustainability, together with the research and teaching experience gained in this field, has led PoliTO to devote most of its architectural and landscape design activities to restoration, conservation and reuse. This led to an extensive enhancement of heritage that has spread from the Piedmont region to the rest of Italy, and now to the whole world.’

But how can we concretely define heritage?

Andrea Bocco, Politecnico's Director of the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), gives us some insights: "For some time now, international conventions on heritage have acknowledged that we no longer refer only to great ancient monuments, which were the main focus of conservation efforts in the pioneering phase between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For decades, we have also considered so-called minor heritage, when talking about buildings. UNESCO, however, does not hesitate to include food or dance as heritage, too. What matters is not the object itself, but the way it gains social and cultural value for a community. A significant part of our surroundings can also be conceived in terms of heritage: the entire neighbourhood, the whole settlement, the landscape, but also the techniques and materials that lead to the creation of a certain object. It is unthinkable to intervene on built heritage, whether monumental or not, without first acquiring in-depth knowledge of this heritage and without respecting it, including its materiality.

Within a few decades, some significant projects have been implemented in Turin and the surrounding area to enhance the value of the heritage, which can be grouped into three main categories.

These highly multidisciplinary projects have led to the inclusion of numerous sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List. PoliTO has often collaborated with studies and research alongside institutions, superintendents, professionals and centres of excellence such as the La Venaria Reale Conservation and Restoration Centre.

The Shougang Visitor Centre project was led by the Department of Architecture and Design (DAD), with consulting services provided by the DISEG and DENERG Departments. The project was carried out in collaboration with Tsinghua University in Beijing and its Design Institute (THAD, TeamMinus).

Until 2005, the Shougang site was home to China's largest state-owned steel mill, occupying over 9 million square metres on the outskirts of Beijing. It was subsequently decommissioned to reduce air pollution in the capital.

Twenty years of collaboration between Politecnico and China

Professor Bonino explains: "Politecnico has maintained strong cultural exchanges with China for more than twenty years, and the Chinese student community attending PoliTO numbers around a thousand people. Collaborating with a country such as China, which is at a very different stage from ours in terms of architecture, is of great scientific interest. I taught for two semesters at Tsinghua University in Beijing, one of the top 15 universities in the world, delivering lectures and case studies on industrial regeneration, one of my fields of research. Samples of industrial regeneration in Turin, such as Lingotto or Dora Park, with its large double-pitched roof, are well known and published in China. In 2008, a workshop gathered students from Politecnico and Tsinghua for generating ideas and visions on the reuse of the Beijing 2008 Olympic facilities: a significant precedent for future developments. Interest in the reuse of industrial buildings then exploded in 2016, when China was awarded the organisation of the 2022 Winter Olympics: compared to previous Olympics, the country decided to explore new directions.”

While organising the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese government focused entirely on new developments: large constructions and buildings designed by famous architects. For the 2022 Olympics, China presented a completely different message, positioning itself as a country attentive to sustainability and committed to reusing existing buildings, also with a view to avoiding land consumption.

As Bonino explains, there were clear precedents: "In 2016, we organised an event in Turin to mark the tenth anniversary of the Turin Winter Olympics, inviting the Chinese Olympic Committee and Tsinghua University. The Chinese delegation included Professor Zhang Li, now Dean of the Tsinghua School of Architecture, who would be responsible for coordinating the Olympic master plan. We had planned to show them the Olympic facilities located in the mountains, since they were candidates to host the Winter Olympics. But they asked us to visit the major urban industrial regeneration projects: Lingotto, Parco Dora, OGR... We only understood the reason later, when we realised how they intended to approach the Games: by reusing disused buildings."

Politecnico is also leading a major project in Cartagena, Colombia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984, to restore and enhance the walls surrounding the historic centre. The project is being funded with three million euros from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of its development cooperation programme.

Sharing knowledge and strategies

The initiative is coordinated by Professor Annalisa Dameri and Professor Paolo Mellano of PoliTO's Department of Architecture and Design (DAD), who have been working for over ten years in collaboration with the local university and authorities, which has led to a significant presence in the area.

The project, aimed at sharing knowledge and strategies for protecting architectural heritage, focuses on preserving and enhancing the most significant elements of the Caribbean city's historic centre. It includes restoring some decorative elements inside the Cathedral of Santa Catalina de Alejandría; the enhancement of the impressive 11-kilometre-long and up to 4-metre-thick defensive walls; the redevelopment of public spaces and historical routes, including the area connecting the bastions of San Ignacio and San Francisco Javier. The Bastion of Santo Domingo and the Baluarte di Santa Catalina will also be involved in the works.

As Professor Bonino explains, part of the project aims to reconnect the walls: "These are beautiful walls, designed in the 16th century by Italian engineer Bautista Antonelli. Over the centuries, some sections have been breached to allow the flow of traffic. In these cases, the project involves the creation of walkways and stairways to cross the avenues leading out of the city through the walls. A series of improvements will gradually be introduced, not only to the walls but also to some buildings in the city centre, in collaboration with the PoliTO group, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), the local university and several associations. The aim is to leave behind a method, a sensibility, that will continue even after the end of the project."

Promoting sustainable tourism

Alongside architectural restoration work, the project aims to strengthen the local economy and promote a model of sustainable and inclusive tourism, plus making the walls accessible to people with disabilities.

Dameri and Mellano explain: "In Cartagena, many small architectural interventions are gradually being carried out, alongside awareness-raising initiatives on the tourist value of heritage, through training activities aimed at local associations. This multidisciplinary approach contributes to a more sustainable vision of the historic centre, encouraging tourism not as a purely consumerist activity, a destination for passing crowds, but as a presence truly capable of driving the local economy."

In Ethiopia, Politecnico is leading an international project for the restoration and enhancement of the historical and cultural heritage of Addis Ababa University. The project is funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI).

Inaugurating the museum and entrusting it to local professionals

The project's main objectives are:

• to preserve the original structure;
• to modernise and revitalise the museum, transforming it into a dynamic venue for the university community and the city;
• to promote the training of Ethiopian professionals in restoration techniques and museum design.

At the same time, the project also includes the redevelopment of teaching spaces such as the Sergio Leone room at the Allè School of Fine Arts and Design, in order to support visual arts academic activities.

Francesca De Filippi, Associate Vice-Rector for International Cooperation and Professor at the Department of Architecture and Design (DAD), as well as co-leader of the project, comments: “In Addis Ababa, one of Ethiopia's most important museums is being renewed and expanded: a prestigious project that will lead to the creation – and future management by local professionals – of a museum equipped with advanced standards. Politecnico, in collaboration with the Conservation and Restoration Centre of La Venaria Reale and the University of Turin, will implement on-site training activities throughout the course of the project, a crucial element for the initiative’s success.”

The Banditaccia Necropolis, located in the Archaeological Park of Cerveteri and Tarquinia (metropolitan city of Rome), is one of the largest necropolises in the ancient world. It covers an area of approximately 200 hectares and includes hundreds of circular mounds and other buildings, containing Etruscan tombs that date back to a very long period, from the 8th to the 2nd century BC.

In the Banditaccia Necropolis, Politecnico's Department of Architecture and Design led an ambitious research programme combining theory, innovation and field experimentation: the project is entitled Co.R.A.Ve. – Conservation of archaeological ruins in plant contexts.

A significant illustration of intervention on minor heritage is the collaboration between Politecnico and Fondazione Canova in Val d'Ossola, focused on the restoration of traditional stone houses with roofs made of ‘piode’, i.e. stone slabs used as tiles.

As Professor Andrea Bocco explains: "The protection and redevelopment of heritage in marginal contexts, such as mountain areas, can play a role in socio-economic revitalisation and the creation of opportunities for local communities. In the Ossola Valley, extensive work has been carried out, with groups of students learning traditional construction techniques on site. As the number of restored buildings has increased, this process also raised awareness among the general public."

Combining traditional techniques with the contemporary energy demand

A major challenge is to combine respect for original construction techniques with today's energy performance requirements. Professor Bocco explains: "The younger generations are very interested in restoring this architectural heritage, but at the same time they claim for environmentally sustainable solutions: no one wants to live in a building that is an energy drain. So, we need to study how to overcome the conflicts that sometimes exist between heritage protection regulations and the energy performance standards. We need to adapt technical solutions to the specific context: both heat production systems and insulation, which must be located inside, because from the outside they would damage the stone building's aesthetics. This approach must be shared with both today's technicians and professionals and tomorrow's designers. We've been taking our students to Val d'Ossola for a dozen years now, and it's a very educational project."