“CHANGES IN USE IN THE TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE: A WAY TO AN APPROPRIATE REHABILITATION. EXPERIENCES IN THE “SASSI” OF MATERA.”

The ancient and hidden city of Matera offers the visitor a totally unexpected sight. It is a timeless city positioned on a steep hill, where groups of houses branch out starting from the flat and moving downwards in concentric circles thus forming the “Sassi”. Here there is an enormous building and architectonic heritage, abandoned for over 40 years and today the scene of slow and careful interventions to recoup this cultural monument which is under the patronage of UNESCO. The restoration and recuperation taking place must apply to the most rigid laws of preservation as regards the materials used, the preservation techniques and the traditional colours so as to avoid inappropriate use. Research focuses its attention on one of the main problems of the restoration of the Sassi of Matera: it is problematic dealing with the unpredictabilities of the structure, the systems and the functional project at the same time and conciliating them with the architectonic language fully respecting the balance between the use of the existing buildings and the new uses of the same buildings. The purpose of the study is the implementation of a methodological approach capable of guaranteeing the “vital continuity” of the building-historical heritage through an “appropriate use” of that heritage and an intervention of preservation which goes beyond the concept of basic protection in order to become a dynamic building activity of the future. The consistancy of the restoration therefore becomes much more than the moment of choosing when and how to intervene and which means to use but an accurate study of the requirements established by the formal and philological rules of preservation. The first results, which were also verified through experimental applications, demonstrate that a change in use may often permit the restoration of architecture in an appropriate way – fully respecting the pre-existing architectonic language - preserving the traditional typologies through the definition of new “types” and the integration of technological services.