The course will deal with historical, theoretical and technical-operational basis of architectural Restoration, describing concepts and methods for the safeguard of cultural heritage through the centuries, from classical antiquity to the present day.

The course intends to supply the tools to read ancient buildings, making students able to understand the architectural evolution of monuments and critically evaluate restoration interventions. Furthermore, students will get the basis to approach restoration themes, with the awareness of different options for intervention.

The knowledge of fundamentals of History - since the classical antiquity to contemporary period - should be acquired.

This course will examine the contemporary approach to preserve our architectural heritage through a comprehensive overview of the history, theory, and techniques of architectural restoration. The class format will be structured into three parts: the first intends to provide students with grounding in the history and theory of restoration, and its development over the centuries. The second part will survey the latest tendencies and advances regarding strategies, international guidelines and restoration techniques. The final part will focus on the intricate topics associated to the preservation of modern architecture. Supported by readings, lectures and class discussions, students will be encouraged to explore how laws, public policies and cultural attitudes define the way we preserve or not our built environment. Students will then be required to evaluate given historical buildings – their design, context, history and their relationship to the collective identity – with an informed and critical eye. Each week, at least two students will be in charge to start a discussion over the assigned readings, briefly introducing the significant issues and conclusions of each piece and raising critical questions. The development of these informal weekly presentations intend to encourage teamwork, firmly convinced that an open and collaborative environment, that encourages diverse approaches and conclusions, is essential in the learning process.

Equirements include weekly readings and discussions, a mid-term written exam, two short papers (2-4 pages), a final research paper.

The textbooks for this class are: 1. S. Caccia, Restoration in a few words. Methodology and Techniques, Huazhong
University of Science & Technology Press (HUST Press), Wu Han - China 2013 (II ed.). 2. S. Caccia, In praise of care. The restoration project: critical orientation and experience, Pisa, Ets 2012.
3. E. Romeo, Instaurare, reficere, renovare, Celid Torino 2017.

Students will develop the analytical tools to understand and document buildings, to place them in their cultural continuum and to create the basis for their preservation.
Grades will be based on class participation and leadership in discussion (20%), class essays and exercises
(30%), and final paper (50%).
For the final paper, you are encouraged to develop an innovative proposal for a preservation intervention at a particular site: an innovative method of adaptive reuse, a new preservation bylaw, a model way of providing
public interpretation of an historic site. Obviously, the topics will be developed in consultation with me.