Abstract
The intrinsic nature of local rocks shaped the features of built heritage in historical centers. The resulting building culture is part of the cultural heritage itself, and must be considered when building in such areas, while it is essential to solve the issues related to traditional constructions’ weaknesses. Nonetheless, the potentialities of massive stone envelopes, particularly the importance of thermal inertia, have contributed to redefining the language of contemporary architectural culture. Nowadays, although the trend of employing thin stone cladding panels is prevalent, thick stone envelopes are gaining a renewed importance. Previous literature demonstrated that mixed building technologies or massive stone envelopes coupled with load-bearing framed structures are able to meet comfort and safety requirements and to guarantee the integration of new constructions in the consolidated urban landscape, avoiding historicist approaches. This research, through the analysis of case studies, aims to describe innovative building solutions developed by contemporary architectural culture, comparing them with traditional stone masonry walls. Moreover, thermal energy performance of such building solutions is assessed through dynamic yearly simulations. Results show that these solutions are technically and architecturally suitable to build in historical centers, because they can express urban cultural identity and guarantee good energy performance and users’ comfort.
Highlights
Stone, together with wood, has had a central role in architecture and constructions
Results show that these solutions are technically and architecturally suitable to build in historical centers, because they can express urban cultural identity and guarantee good energy performance and users’ comfort
The use of same-stone materials for different construction elements contributes to achieving harmony, so that such urban centers were defined as art masterpieces [1]
Summary
Stone materials characterized the traditional construction culture and the historical built environment. In Italy in particular, many smaller urban centers and bigger urban areas are built with stone as primary and most prominent material. Each of these areas is characterized by particular types of stone, since in previous eras it was common to employ the materials that were available in the area, “km0”. (i.e., slate) stone roofs and dry-walls in the Liguria region. The use of same-stone materials for different construction elements contributes to achieving harmony, so that such urban centers were defined as art masterpieces [1].
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