REALITY AND ARCHITECTURAL VISION THROUGH A (RE)THINKING PROCESS CONCEPTUAL APPROACH FOR PRESERVATION DESIGN

The paper describes a study on the topic of the relationship between research and project in the reuse of historical buildings. It was developed at the Politecnico di Milano during the Preservation and Reuse Design Course (Continuing Education). The increasing attention to the architectural heritage conservation requires rethinking the existing theoretical principles, setting up the operational tools and interpreting formal results. Dealing with the built environment necessarily implies a multidisciplinary knowledge. On the one hand, pre-existences imply design constraints, on the other hand, they create opportunities to seize new relationships between historical buildings and new constructions. This research presents an innovative approach to historical architecture, starting from the desire to intercept different disciplinary spheres. It is believed that contributions offered by various fields could provide new architectural suggestions to valorise the historical traces and to add a contemporary sign to the existing construction. What is even more relevant, is that this approach could represent an important didactic aspect in the field of conservation and restoration teaching, opening at the possibility to explore educational experiences based on these multidisciplinary theorical principles.