Building D

Site: Roma
Year: 2017
Client: MIBACT - Soprintenza Speciale Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma
Superficie: 620 mq

Building D of the Archaeological Area of ​​Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, built in the early 1900s by the Military Engineers, is a precious example of a prefabricated reinforced concrete structure that testifies to the first experiments of this technique for modular construction systems.
The building is built with prefabricated reinforced concrete elements; the main structural system is the closed frame, consisting of pillars on trussed plinths and a steel chain to counteract the horizontal thrusts.
Unfortunately, the years of neglect have led to the dilapidation of the building: in particular, the runoff of rainwater has triggered a dangerous process of degradation of the structural elements of the roof.
The project carried out immediately had as its main objectives the conservation and restoration of the original structure since the historic factory, with its particular constructive specificities, represents one of the first examples of prefabricated structures in reinforced concrete. In this regard, a framed system to support the roof has been designed and built, keeping the original system of the historic structure unchanged. The structural intervention involved the insertion of steel trusses (14 were made in the workshop, the largest of which covers a span of 18 meters), which completely unloaded the original ones.
The metal trusses thus have the function of carrying the loads on the roof, without interfering with the existing transverse structural elements in reinforced concrete.