HOW A REFURBISHMENT CAN BLATANTLY MISS ITS GOALS: THE PALAZZO STABILE IN POLLA (SALERNO, ITALY)

The rapid evolution of performance regulation, particularly in the structural and energy field, has made evident design errors that otherwise would not have been highlighted. In this way, many refurbishment interventions, carried out a few years ago, must be declared obsolete and worthy of substantial retrofits. It is the case of the Palazzo Stabile in Polla, rebuilt from scratch after the disastrous earthquake of 1857, and purchased in 1995 by the Municipal Administration which in the following years, with an intervention that ended in 2001, completely refurbished it, destining it to host seven social housing units. The building was thus subject to radical interventions of subfoundation, reinforcement of the walls, replacement of the wooden suspended floors with reinforced concrete floors and wooden roofs with trusses and steel floors, reinforced concrete architraves on the openings, sanitary and thermal systems, floorings, plasters and finishes. Twenty years after his complete refurbishment, the building not only shows itself to be affected by important humidity pathologies but, on a more in-depth analysis, it turns out to be unsafe in terms of earthquake resistance and seriously inefficient from the point of view of fundamental requirements, there those relating to energy consumption, ventilation, acoustic insulation between and inside the apartments and natural lighting. Considering that the case is paradigmatic of the condition of many other buildings that have been the subject of interventions, especially after the seismic events that have affected many areas of Italy in the last forty years, the contribution illustrates the research carried out on the building, showing the reference methodologies relating to each step of the analysis and the results of their application. It starts from the description of the works carried out on the building; discusses their compliance with the mandatory standards at the time of implementation and with those in force today, the current state of the building and its pathologies. It proposes the necessary interventions to make the building safe and efficient, respecting its historical and architectural characteristics, with a view to sustainability.