Transformative reconstruction - Michal Saniewski

Transformative

reconstruction

Crafting Falerone’s earthquake-resistant future

Michał Saniewski MPhil Architecture and Urban Design Pilot Thesis (Essay 3)

Transformative

reconstruction Crafting Falerone’s earthquake-resistant future

A pilot thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the M.Phil in Architecture and Urban Design 2020-22 I would like express my gratitude to:

James Campbell, my supervisor

Jessie Fyfe

Aram Mooradian

Conrad Koslowsky

Ingrid Schröder Antonello Alici

for their knowledge, advice and inspiration.

Word count: 5,489 This pilot thesis is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except where specifically indicated in the text.

Michał Saniewski MPhil Architecture and Urban Design Emmanuel College Pilot Thesis (Essay 3) 1

Contents

Introduction

3

How to reconstruct?

9

Post-earthquake reconstruction in Italy

9

Seismic architecture

11

Collective memory

13

Creative heritage conservation

15

Research questions

21

Uncovering Falerone

23

Historical evolution

23

Local traditions

25

Community and collective memory

25

Post-earthquake reinhabitation

27

Looking ahead

31

List of illustrations

39

Bibliography

40

2

Introduction The Italian town of Falerone, located in the central region of Marche, suffered heavily from a series of earthquakes which hit Italy in 2016. Lasting from August to November, it was the most powerful series of quakes to affect the country since 1980, striking a blow at the regions of Marche, Umbria, Lazio and Abruzzo, killing dozens of people and displacing hundreds of thousands. While Italians have always accepted earthquakes as part of their reality (Fig.1), the catastrophic events of 2016 left a particularly acute aftertaste. In Amatrice, the epicentre, one of the survivors compared what he experienced to scenes from Dante’s Inferno.1 Many families lost their homes, others had to move out because of unsafe conditions. In Falerone, more than 80% of buildings were severely damaged and thus inaccessible.2 As a result of forced displacement, the historic town’s population decreased significantly. Many inhabitants were relocated to poorquality temporary accommodation in other parts of the region, where they have to live to this day, and a strong sense of local community was suddenly broken. After four years, majority of buildings remains empty, their walls wrapped in various steel and timber protective devices (Fig.2) — and even though some people have since managed to move back, there does not seem to be much hope in the air. The widespread political corruption in the country and questionable allocation of reconstruction funds are further delaying the process of reinhabitation.3 The problems of Falerone, however, started long before the recent earthquakes. In fact, its population has been gradually decreasing since the 1950s. Like many other towns in the Italian interior, Falerone has been affected by a mass outflow of young people who chose to live in big cities, not willing to take roots in the countryside — or simply not seeing any opportunities there.

The once vibrant and attractive hilltop town, characterised by its beautiful medieval urban grain and known for unique craftsmanship traditions, started to slowly lose its appeal. Today, lack of a clear reconstruction strategy and economic vision contribute to a sense of identity crisis. It could be said that Falerone exists on three levels: first, as an artefact, a damaged hilltop town devoid of life; second, as people who used to inhabit it and are waiting to return; third, as a collective memory of what it used to be in the past (Fig.3&5). A successful reconstruction strategy needs to 1

Povoledo, 2016

2

Achilli, 2016

3

Achilli, 2016 3

Magnitude 7.0-7.9 6.0-6.9 5.0-5.9 4.0-4.9

Fig.1 Earthquakes in Italy 1900 –4 2020

address all of these layers.

Focusing on the future of Falerone, the wider aim of this project is to propose a strategy for resilient conservation and its gradual reinhabitation. The question that has to be addressed is how to live with the earthquakes, for there will be many more to come — and how architecture can become a source of hope, rather than a source of fear, for the local population?

Like every other city, Falerone is a living organism which has to constantly evolve, which cannot remain static. In this essay I will reflect on various approaches to post-earthquake reconstruction, taking into account contemporary debates surrounding heritage conservation, in order to speculate on how the reconstruction process could be used to reinvigorate the damaged town (architecturally, but also socially and economically). Using my recent design tests, I will also speculate on how the development of a new craft tradition can facilitate this gradual rehabilitation. The reconstruction can, and should be, a transformative process, used as an opportunity to help Falerone redefine its identity — and connect its future with its past. The strategy proposed here — a set of principles, an architectural toolkit — even though highly bespoke, could be later adopted as a model in other Italian towns struggling with similar problems.

5

Fig.2 Post-earthquake reinforcements 6 Falerone

7

Fig.3 Palimpsest 8

How to reconstruct?

POST-EARTHQUAKE RECONSTRUCTION IN ITALY While many contemporary scholars and architects have challenged prevailing attitudes to heritage conservation and proposed novel, original approaches, there have not been enough debates about the ways heritage should be treated (and reconstructed) in the aftermath of natural disasters — especially in the Italian context. Dov’era, com’era, a slogan meaning ‘where it was, how it was’, is often too easily adopted as a principle in post-earthquake reconstruction in Italy, with local authorities hoping to restore their towns, and life within them, to the pre-disaster state. However, the idea of restoring buildings to their previous state is deeply problematic, and neglects the fact that earthquakes, despite being a very traumatic memory, are now part of their history and identity. As Bethan Watson argued in her thesis Città della Memoria, there is a need to radically alter the Italian understanding of heritage and its value for the society.4 She proposed an enhanced definition of heritage encompassing ‘the everyday’ — sites of local or even personal significance within a city. Based in L’Aquila, a city devastated during the 2009 earthquake, the project was focused on selective reconstruction responding to the reading of the city based on collective and individual memories of its inhabitants.

This project, acknowledging the importance and relevance of these ideas, aims to take them further and use Falerone as a test bed for experiments in earthquake-proof reconstruction — treating the town as a ‘work in progress’, a living heritage site being constantly remade. The focus is on reconstruction as an ongoing process, involving the local community at every stage, rather than the final effect of a reborn town. What has to be reconstructed in towns like Falerone is not just architectural fabric, but a sense of identity — and identity is always in flux, it is prone to instability and change.

In Italy, there are significant regional differences in approaches to conservation of ancient buildings, and architects are given varying degrees of freedom.5 Most of the time, however, this freedom is very limited. It could be argued that by being overly precious with heritage structures, local authorities prevent much-needed transformations and changes of function, effectively 4

Watson, 2016

5

Marmo & Pascale, 2018 9

Fig.4 “Terra rossa” Tullio10 Pericoli

turning many buildings into lifeless artefacts — rather than giving them a new life. Moreover, as Borri and Corradi proved, there is a tension between ensuring structural safety and need for conservation which often results in inappropriate earthquake-proofing measures in Italy.6 Postearthquake reconstruction requires a more dynamic approach to heritage conservation. Seismic retrofitting often demands radical interventions in the architectural fabric — why should they be hidden from sight? Perhaps a better strategy is to devise an architectural expression for the safety devices. This could have a positive psychological impact, helping users confront fear of the earthquakes.

The ongoing reconstruction of L’Aquila, where a series of political mistakes and abuses of power have prevented its successful reinhabitation, has been extensively studied. Writing in 2014, Ciorra asked: “five years after the tragic earthquake, L’Aquila’s stricken urban fabric is gradually recovering. But what will welcome the dispersed community when they return to their streets and spaces?”.7 The once vibrant historic centre had remained classified as a red zone for years, neglected and effectively cut off from the city as an uninhabitable space, while the population was displaced, either to poor-quality temporary shelters (‘Moduli Abitativi Provvisori’) or new housing estates (‘Complessi Antisismici Sostenibili ed Ecocompatibili’) — earthquake-resistant yet located on the outskirts. The result was a painful, prolonged disconnection of the people from their city. “The biggest hole in L’Aquila remains: it will not be easy to restore the city, even less easy to repopulate it, and very difficult to reinstate an economic and community identity once all the financial and emergency interventions are over.”8 Lessons need to be learned from these mistakes.

SEISMIC ARCHITECTURE As the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban pointed out, it is not the earthquake that kills people, it is the collapse of buildings that kills people.9 Architects are therefore directly responsible for people’s lives in the face of a natural disaster. According to Fuller, Gröndahl, Singhvi & Watkins, while earthquakes are natural phenomena, “the amount of damage they cause is a function of decisions made by politicians, engineers and business executives.”10 Curiously, there is a clear lack of knowledge about principles of seismic design among architects — seismic engineering, on the other hand, has attracted a lot of scholarly and professional attention. As Mentor Llunji emphasises, “it is necessary to pay more attention to the conceptual 6

Borri & Corradi, 2019

7

Ciorra, 2014

8

Ciorra, 2014

9

Ban, 2013

10

Fuller, Gröndahl, Singhvi & Watkins, 2019 11

Fig.5 Memory—Artefact—People Layers of12Falerone

design phase and better inform architects about seismic problems and basic principles of seismic design, as well as work for better and closer collaboration between structural engineers and architects”.11 One cannot control the earthquake, but one can control the structure.12 By being innovative and sustainable from the outset, taking inspiration from traditional building techniques, architects should design durable buildings which respond to nature without surrendering to its forces. One of the most successful examples of anti-seismic architecture in recent years is a rammed-earth house in Guangming, China, reconstructed using vernacular techniques enhanced by the possibilities of modern engineering. “The idea was to reconstruct using local labour and to return some lost rural construction skills.”13 Earthquake shaking table tests conducted with a 1:1 mock-up have proved its resistance to very strong tremors, while the use of local materials helped maintain a sense of urban identity and continuity of tradition.

Conservation architect Randolph Langenbach has studied vernacular earthquakeresistant structures around the world, from Nepal through Portugal to America, showing that most effective solutions can be in fact cheap and easy to construct. In Italy, a lot of scholarly attention has been drawn to seismic performance of ancient structures, which often tend to perform better under shakes than their contemporary counterparts. Ferrigni et al. have proposed a model for recovering the ‘local seismic cultures’, arguing that this knowledge should be passed through generations, from masters to apprentices, being rooted in tradition yet constantly evolving, enhanced by the progress of technology and construction methods.14 Architectural resilience is, however, more than structural resilience. Genadt defines it “as architecture’s capacity to support a community in regaining equilibrium after a powerful force has disrupted its organization”.15 Working on reconstruction strategies, architects need to take into account the psychological dimension of the post-disaster trauma — thinking about the ways in which architectural interventions can help the community heal the wounds, physical and mental alike.

COLLECTIVE MEMORY Writing about the Old Bridge in Mostar, which was deliberately destroyed during the Bosnian War, Slavenka Drakulic said: “we expect people to die. We count on our own lives to end. The destruction of a... [bridge]... is something else. The...bridge...was built to outlive us.

Because it was the product of both individual creativity and collective experience, it transcended 11

Llunji, 2016, p.17

12

Charleson, 2008

13

Williams, 2017

14

Ferrigni et al., 2005

15

Genadt, 2019 13

Fig.6 Site plan 14

our individual destiny. A dead woman is one of us, but the bridge is all of us.”16 The bridge was a highly contested lieu de memoire17, or site of memory, connecting diverse communities and acting as a symbol of hope and unity for the local population. It reminds us that architectural objects, artefacts, heritage sites can play a very significant role in the collective memory of any community, being charged with emotional meanings and more powerful than any official memorials. In case of places hit by natural disasters, the whole urban landscape becomes a site of memory. The city is the locus of the collective memory, as Aldo Rossi claims.18 In Falerone, the visible damage, rubble, cracks in the brick walls and bracing structures mounted on so many buildings serve as painful reminders of the quakes, scars and stitches covering the tormented medieval body. How, then, to approach this broken, damaged fabric, in an ‘ethical’ way?

Reading the site as a palimpsest of memories of people who inhabit it, architects can act as memory keepers, helping the community come to terms with the past and overcome the postearthquake trauma. As Pullan argues, “if we accept the argument that heritage is about the collective human good, then humanitarian emergencies should be connected to emergencies and traumas of the urban fabric”.19 CREATIVE HERITAGE CONSERVATION As Marmo and Pascale argue, in recent decades “the object of the protection [in Italy] has changed, moving from the archaeological and artistic heritage to the historic towns, which require an integrated conservation in the society, in order to reconcile the urban renewal actions with the protection of historical and architectural values of each site.”20 Moreover, many scholars have argued that the modern age, characterised by growing political instability, climate crisis and rapid transformations in every field of life, calls for an updated understanding of heritage. Are rules set out by ICOMOS in the The Venice Charter, for instance, still valid, or should they be adjusted — especially in the highly complex and sensitive context of postearthquake reconstruction? The principles of permanently maintaining and making use of heritage structures for a socially useful purpose should certainly continue to guide any reconstruction attempts. However, as mentioned before, conservation in the post-disaster context often requires a radical adaptation and change of function, if a building is to remain in use and ‘alive’ — rather than turn into a static monument. Therefore, Article 13 stating that “additions cannot be allowed except in so far as they do not detract from the interesting parts of the 16

Drakulic, 1993

17

Nora, 1989

18

Rossi, 1984

19

Pullan, 2017

20

Marmo & Pascale, 2018 15

Give a new life to abandoned buildings and spaces

Engage the local community in the reconstruction process

Weave new fabric into the ruins

Provide easy to build, high quality temporary shelters

Animate safe public spaces and re-establish urban rituals

Allow for future readaptation

Repair whenever possible

Reinstate local crafts and use local materials Create a network of interconnected urban rooms

Bring the displaced population back to the town — and open it for new inhabitants

Ensure that all new structures are earthquake-resistant

Fig.7 Catalogue of proposed 16 reconstruction rules

building, its traditional setting, the balance of its composition and its relation with its surroundings”21 seems out of date and effectively prevents any meaningful transformation.

When intervening in medieval cities, architects should reflect on the deeper qualities that defined the greatest works of medieval architecture. In the Middle Ages, buildings were rarely treated as static, finished artefacts — on the contrary, architects were not afraid to take what they found and readjust to the current needs. With construction lasting for decades or even centuries, buildings evolved over time, accumulating residues and marks of all those who contributed to their creation. Describing Notre-Dame in Paris, Victor Hugo compared it to a chimera, having the limbs of one, the haunches of another, the head of yet another — something of all. He reminded us that the greatest products of architecture are less the works of individuals than of society (…) the heaps accumulated by centuries; the residue of successive evaporations of human society — in a word, species of formations. Each wave of time contributes its alluvium, each race deposits its layer on the monument, each individual brings his stone.22 Echoing this view, Ruskin saw Gothic as an ongoing project, defined by the acts of remaking, reappropriation, change and repair.23 The questions of ethics of conservation emerge here. Perhaps a much more appropriate way to reconstruct the burnt roof of Notre-Dame today would be to design a new structure, one which would speak of its time and make use of modern technologies and skills — rather than try to restore the medieval structure to its previous state, which seems deeply inauthentic from the outset? Since we do not have access to the same materials, skills or methods of construction, why should we try to imitate the medieval structure?

The most successful adaptations of medieval buildings are ones where architects were not afraid to make their stamp and add, or insert, contemporary structures into the medieval fabric, adjusting it where necessary, acknowledging and caring for the various layers of history without being too precious. That is why Carlo Scarpa’s interventions in Castelvecchio in Verona — radical yet highly sensitive to the historic fabric — have not aged at all. They remain and will remain timeless — becoming another layer in the historic palimpsest of the castle and leaving space for further additions, allowing the past to merge with “the future born in the voids of an incomplete image”.24

21

ICOMOS, 1964

22

Hugo, 2017

23

Ruskin, 1890

24

Goffi, 2013, p.165 17

Fig.8 Cultivating memories 18

Opposing the concept of restoration of buildings to their previous state25, Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (of which the most active and prominent founder-member was William Morris) proclaimed that we cannot restore buildings, we can only repair them.

Giancarlo De Carlo, who was known to be strongly influenced by Morris26, applied this philosophy to the scale of the city. His highly precise, surgical interventions in Urbino can be seen as modern implants in the medieval fabric. The new buildings for the local university managed to repair — rather than restore — the social life of the city, by attracting a new student population and reinvigorating the once desolate historic centre.27 Perceiving the act of conservation as a future-making process, Cornelius Holtorf argues that we as a society should avert our preference for loss aversion — which is a phenomenon observed by sociologists and economists, but which also applies to built environment — and instead open ourselves to acquiring gains of the same value. According to him, “the logic of the conservation paradigm ignores that natural and historic processes of change and transformation are the origin and driver of human civilization and heritage on Earth, not their enemy.”28 Japan sets a good precedent for a holistic understanding of heritage, which places emphasis on “memory, experience, skills and tradition which can be attached to objects. In Japan, the Ise shrine is rebuilt every twenty years according to tradition. This is the pinnacle of Shinto cult practice, where the spiritual heritage of the place is projected onto the built object, and what is preserved is the process and ritual of rebuilding.”29 In Italy, focus should be shifted from conserving the stagnant vision of the past to defining heritage futures and futures of heritage. Heritage conservation can be a highly creative and critical process. By interacting with the historic fabric in imaginative, experimental ways, architects can contribute to the collective memory-work — challenging the community to redefine its own identity and find new meanings in the many hidden layers of its city.

25

Thompson, 1976, p.228

26

De Carlo, 1946

27

McKean, 2003

28

Holtorf, 2018

29

Watson, 2015 19

Fig.9 Roof damage San Francesco 20 monastery, 2019

Research questions • How can architecture respond to fear induced by the earthquakes, becoming a source of hope for the local community?

• How can the reconstruction process be used as a catalyst for reinvigorating the damaged town (architecturally, socially and economically)?

• How can the development of a new craft tradition facilitate Falerone’s post-earthquake rehabilitation?

• How to phase the reinhabitation process?

21

Fig.10 View towards San Francesco 22 2019 Via Roma,

Uncovering Falerone HISTORICAL EVOLUTION Ancient Roman ruins: an amphitheatre, a theatre, water reservoirs and baths adorn the surrounding wheat fields, serving as a vivid reminder of Falerone’s origins. Known as Falerio, it was a Roman colony of strategic importance in the Picenum region, probably founded by Caesar Augustus following his victory in the Battle of Actium in the 1st century BC. These structures are, however, the only traces of the ancient town, and not much is known about its subsequent evolution and decay during Late Antiquity. Today, one can spot remnants of the Roman theatre tucked in a private garden and adjoined by a garage clad in corrugated steel. In Italy, history always becomes part of the everyday reality, a magnificent backdrop for mundane activities.

In the 13th century, a group of Franciscan monks founded a monastery, today known as San Francesco, on top of the nearby hill, and the town started to gradually grow around it in the following centuries. Chronicles mention that the first inhabitants were survivors of the battle on the plateau, who found refuge within the monastic walls. As the urban form of Falerone evolved, so did the monastery, undergoing many changes — the traces of these transformations are clearly visible in its brick facades. Interestingly, it also changed its function several times, most recently housing a secondary school which had to be relocated in 2016. The bell tower of San Francesco has always been a symbol of Falerone — now, with a missing spire, it became a symbol of the recent tragedy (Fig.10). It is a focal point and end of the town’s central spine, Via Roma. Falerone has retained its original medieval urban grain and comb-like morphology, which follows the topography of the hill, gently rolling down its side (Fig.6). While the northfacing rampart walls protected Falerone from invasions, the town opened itself towards the south with a series of terraced gardens and narrow alleyways framing magnificent views of the valley.

23

Fig.11 Food festival 24 2019 Via Roma,

LOCAL TRADITIONS Falerone’s relationship with the surrounding agricultural landscape is rather extraordinary (Fig.5&6). Agriculture has always been the main economic driver in the region, but Marche is also famous its various traditional crafts, many of which are unique to the region (from straw weaving, through production of leather goods, furniture, ceramics, to paper-making). During the second half of the 20th century, many small artisanal workshops were transformed into profitable businesses, producing and exporting luxury goods up to this day. Falerone has a very rich history of straw weaving — this rare artisanal craft was once the main source of profit for its inhabitants, with over thirty workshops creating elaborate goods every day. Falerone and other surrounding towns were the main suppliers of straw products for the whole country — at the same time, harvest festivals became an important part of the local culture, a communal ritual performed every year (Fig.12). Today, few traces of this unique heritage remain visible. Yet perhaps what has been lost can still be reinstated — having interviewed several people during the Living with Earthquakes Summer School in 2019, I learned that the craft still occupies a significant place in the collective memory of Falerone’s inhabitants. During the fieldwork period, when some of the ideas presented in this essay will be experimented with and tested on site, I hope to stimulate the community to engage with these traditions by organising a series educational craft workshops, leading, perhaps, to a collective 1:1 design intervention. Could the image of the whole town ‘weaving their future’ together resurface to become a symbol of hope for people living here, helping to rebuild a close-knit community? How could modern technology be merged with local craftsmanship, helping reactivate its economic potential?

COMMUNITY AND COLLECTIVE MEMORY Marche is a beautiful yet fragile land with a long history of earthquakes. Many people here live a precarious life, not knowing when the earth is going to tremble again. And, as many earthquake survivors have emphasised, nothing compares to the feeling of earth trembling under one’s feet. “There is something metaphysical in the earthquake, escaping the senses”30 — it fills people with a sense of horror, makes them feel powerless against the absolute power of nature. An earthquake destroys both the natural and the man-made, threatens both life and culture. In Ruins, a reportage about the 1980 earthquake near Naples, Herling-Grudziński does not see the earthquake as a solely tectonic phenomenon — but a fear-inducing force, difficult to describe in any words.31 As it turns out, the story’s title refers not just to the material ruins, but also to the condition of human beings affected by the earthquake. Describing terremotati, the 30

Morawiec, 2000, p.13

31

Śniedziewska, 2019 25

Fig.12 Archival photographs 26

survivors, he writes: “in their eyes there was this cold intensity of the last look: beyond the boundary of suffering, where despair becomes indifference.”32 What role, then, can architects play in the process of healing the community from trauma?

As argued before, Falerone today can be seen as a series of layers, or conditions: architectural (the empty hill town which became an artefact), conceptual (the collective memory of what it used to be, existing in the minds of people who lived there before the earthquakes) and social (the population, now dispersed around the whole region, still living in temporary shelters after four years — in caravans on camping sites, in hotels and hospitals turned into poor-quality accommodation). The themes of rebuilding identity, traumatic memory and community displacement are therefore central to the reconstruction debate. It is beyond doubt that any subsequent political efforts should be focused on bringing people back to the town. A series of debates involving the inhabitants, city authorities, policy makers, politicians and local architects should become a starting point for devising the reinhabitation strategy — as this project develops during the coming months, these will form a core of its methodological approach. It is clear that, despite the rupture of civic life caused by the 2016 disaster, the local community remains very strongly attached to the place. And while most buildings remain closed, they have been using the open urban spaces — streets, gardens and piazzas — for rituals and celebrations, continuing the age-old traditions and awakening hope for a brighter future (Fig.11). The possibilities of animating the public squares and disused spaces in collaboration with local community and artists will be tested and explored during the fieldwork stage. However traumatic and fragmented it might be, identity often finds refuge in memory. Falerone’s community needs to learn to live with earthquakes, rather than in constant fear of them — accepting them as part of their reality and developing appropriate resilience strategies.

POST-EARTHQUAKE REINHABITATION Following the 2016 earthquakes, having learned from the recent mistakes of L’Aquila and other problematic cases, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage (MiBAC) has formulated new principles of reconstruction: The work of reconstruction is to be viewed within the perspective of the overall recovery of so‐termed ‘minor’ buildings, of urban morphology, and its relation to the natural and anthropized environment, in representing, in its entirety, material testimony of a civilization comprising churches, theatres, palazzi, castles, squares and more generally assets stated to be of cultural interest. Only in this way it is possible to safeguard the quality which has always hallmarked these centres of habitation and the surrounding landscape of which they’re part.

32

Morawiec, 2000, p.13 27

Fig.13 Post-earthquake trauma 28 human loss Material and

Every building must be reconstructed in situ. Land consumption must be reduced in favour of historic centres; Delocalisation of villages is to be contemplated solely in cases of evident danger; If ‘where it was’ is practicable and in most cases right, then ‘how it was’ becomes a methodological objective.33 It can be hoped that this will lead to a gradual change of approach in the whole region — as a starting point, the following project will aim to address and expand this set of principles through its strategy for Falerone’s reinhabitation.

33

Birrozzi, 2017 29

Fig.14 Initial sketch plans 30

Looking ahead What if the recent earthquakes were necessary for Falerone to be able to redefine its identity? Despite being a destructive force, they brought a creative opportunity for envisioning and crafting an alternative, more resilient future. And today Falerone is in need of a clear vision for the future — a vision alternative to what has been imagined and proposed before. This future, however, must find its roots in the past. Its medieval buildings, however fragile they might seem today, have survived hundreds of years and numerous earthquakes, framing people’s lives over centuries of turbulence. Most probably, there had been times in its history when the town was depopulated, repaired, and populated again. The most sensible and sustainable way forward is to continue this cycle — and keep mending its urban fabric. But how to transform the whole town into a resistant structure? What would be the appropriate new functions? And what should be the language of the newly developed earthquake-resistant architecture?

The ideas explored in the pilot project — developed in parallel to this theoretical research — encompass both low-cost, temporary interventions and more long-term recovery strategies.

While the latter are more hypothetical in nature, the potential of community-driven short-term interventions will be explored during fieldwork. Starting with transitional structures which are meant to exist for a specified period of time, while the town is being reconstructed — and allowing for new, meanwhile uses of desolate or ruined spaces — the focus is then shifted to bespoke, highly detailed alterations and transformations of selected historic buildings. A new craft school — scattered around town and woven into the existing fabric, adapting some of the abandoned buildings, most importantly the San Francesco monastery — is proposed as a potentially highly viable way towards reinhabiting Falerone and attracting a new young population. As discussed before, there is an interesting opportunity for reviving and developing local crafts, and for turning the newly-developed knowledge of earthquake-resistant construction into a craft of its own.

One of the first steps involved collaging fragments of precedents into the site, including Giancarlo De Carlo’s Il Magistero in Urbino (Fig.14) — a very successful example of an educational institution reviving a medieval town. Like Falerone, Urbino is characterised by tightly-woven urban fabric. What Giancarlo De Carlo created there over the period of 50 years was a series of intricate, almost surgical architectural interventions subtly interwoven into this 31

Fig.15 Craft school 32

ancient fabric. And even though he designed a whole series of buildings for the local university, they can all be read as parts of one coherent vision. Describing his other project in Matera, Eversole noted that De Carlo attempted an architecture legible to an uncultured, impoverished populace through the exhibition of their craft knowledge. The rustic structure featured an arcade and hipped roof in raw concrete and masonry built by local craftsmen, which reflected what he called Italian architects’ ‘re-acquisition of historical consciousness’34 An open and creative exchange of skills and knowledge between generations could form a basis of new perception of heritage as a resource — heritage which is constantly ‘in use’.35 In the spirit of De Carlo’s philosophy of participatory design, the new educational institution could become a platform for regenerative urban experiments, “encouraging the public to be urbanism’s ‘protagonists’ rather than its objects”, reframing “planning as a civic process, not the pursuit of ideal or functional forms”, and calling “for ‘self-realising plans’ that emerge like ‘chain reactions’”.36 This experimental framework would also manifest itself architecturally. How to insert new fabric into the old — respecting the layers of history, of which the earthquakes are an inherent part? Perhaps some of the scars and cracks should be preserved to serve as a poignant reminder of the past, becoming a living memorial? And perhaps there is a potential to develop a new language of additive, ‘surgical’ architecture, where the contemporary timber frames serve a protective function, supporting and bracing the damaged medieval walls — but at the same time can be inhabited, framing new uses and reprogramming internal spaces (Fig.16). Reflecting on the reconstruction of Merola tower by Carles Enrich Studio, which is a highly accomplished example of 21st-century seismic architecture, Phillips noted that “it is at once a restoration and a reinvention, adding an entirely new character to this local monument. It restores function while clearly revealing the fragility of the ‘stage-set’ like ancient wall.”37 There is a similar ambition behind this project, which additionally aims to explore the tension between low-tech and hi-tech. There is a potential to create a modular timber frame system, easily modified, replicated and recycled, with various elements prefabricated and quickly assembled on site.

Recent developments in cutting-edge 3D printing technologies also provide interesting opportunities. WASP, an Italian manufacturer, just revealed its prototype houses printed with clay and straw, in 10 days and for less than 1,000 euros. Perhaps these processes could be used to 34

Eversole, 2014

35

Fang, 2021

36

Eversole, 2014

37

Phillips, 2020 33

Fig.16 Earthquake-proofing timber structure 1:2034model

manufacture precise ‘implants’ filling holes in damaged ancient structures? Since the questions of sustainability are at the core of this project, one wonders if the whole design could be developed using a limited palette of locally sourced materials — timber, bricks and straw — recycled whenever possible.

Reflecting on their highly accomplished — and, indeed, highly creative conservation project, Witherford Watson Mann stated: We have not restored Astley Castle; we have, rather, maintained the ruin and inhabited its core. What is the difference? If restoration implies a form of completion, a return to a past wholeness, we have left the castle incomplete. We have left the huge gaps that we found in the fabric rather than fill them, treating the subtractions of the decades of decay with the same seriousness as the additions from centuries of construction. Where we have had to build, we have done so with economical contemporary materials, accepting the surface discontinuities that follow.38 With the new structures woven into the ancient fabric and extending it, reconfiguring internal spaces, binding the damaged fragments but leaving the whole ‘incomplete’ and open for future adaptations, Falerone’s craft school would clearly manifest its new function and identity, becoming an ever-evolving work in progress (Fig.17&18). According to Holtorf, “cultural heritage management [should] be about managing change in an effort to protect value and significance rather than about preventing change in a struggle to preserve the existing material heritage.”39 This project therefore treats the reconstruction as a process rather than a product — hoping that architecture can initiate a deeper societal change, helping the traumatised communities discover new meanings and values in their heritage.

38

Mann, 2020, p.8

39

Holtorf, 2015 35

Fig.17 Ideas for a craft school 36 monastery in San Francesco

37

Faleron

ne

Fig.18 Crafting Falerone’s future 38

List of illustrations All images were created by the author, unless stated otherwise.

Cover Carta della Marca di Fermo, Roma, 1803, Bernardino Olivieri. Source: https:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:15_-_Carta_della_Marca_di_Fermo,_Roma_1803__Bernardino_Olivieri.jpg (Accessed 18 December 2020) Fig.1 Earthquakes in Italy, 1900 – 2020 Fig.2 Post-earthquake reinforcements, Falerone Fig.3 Palimpsest Fig.4 “Terra rossa”, Tullio Pericoli. Source: photograph by the author, 2019 Fig.5 Memory—Artefact—People. Layers of Falerone. Panorama of the town before the 2016 earthquakes. Source: https://magazine.dooid.it/destinazioni/falerone-storia-e-tradizioni/ (Accessed 18 February 2021) Fig.6 Site plan Fig.7 Catalogue of proposed reconstruction rules Fig.8 Cultivating memories Fig.9 Roof damage, San Francesco monastery, 2019 Fig.10 View towards San Francesco, Via Roma, 2019 Fig.11 Food festival, Via Roma, 2019. Source: https://www.instagram.com/prolocofalerone/ (Accessed 25 February 2021) Fig.12 Archival photographs. Source: Comune di Falerone, 2019 Fig.13 Post-earthquake trauma. Material and human loss. Source: https://teologiapolityczna.pl/ magdalena-sniedziewska-herling-i-obsesja-terremoto (Accessed 4 January 2021) Fig.14 Initial sketch plans Fig.15 Craft school Fig.16 Earthquake-proofing timber structure, 1:20 model Fig.17 Ideas for a craft school in San Francesco monastery. Axonometric drawing in the background by Giacomo Beverati. Source: Comune di Falerone, 2019 Fig.18 Crafting Falerone’s future

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