In our day, when we cross the city of Dalmine and look beyond the function of university campus characterizing its contemporary physical spaces, it is difficult not to notice the still largely visible signs of that utopian design of the company town - made of houses for workers, schools, farms, guest houses, canteens, small shops and factory outlets - prefigured by the Milanese architect Giovanni Greppi. Born from the social tension of an Italy that, despite coming out victorious from the First World War, had been deeply changed by the conflict, the small centre embodied the will - also for propaganda purposes - of the Fascist regime to create a new city seen as emblematic place of an ideal society in which the company set itself, as a final goal, the well-being and serenity of the workers. Founded on July 7, 1927 on the land adjacent to the factory, Dalmine will be established around the new piazza dell’Impero - with the flagpole, famous for being the tallest in Europe, on which the Nation's flag will fly - and the Casa Littoria, the Palazzo Comunale, the kindergarten, the school, the dopolavoro (after-work) and other leisure and collective buildings. These architectural works will prove to be essential elements in the organization of an industrial model village, based on a close network of relations with local institutions and the territory, aimed at implementing social, welfare and recreational actions for the employees of the company and their families. In the post-war period, even if in a totally renewed political-institutional and industrial framework, these buildings will maintain the role of nodes of a complex and efficient system of human relations, representing its material trace and its strongest identity character. Following the sale to the Municipality of the main social edifices and the alienation of some other assets to private individuals, the city of Greppi - a social, urban planning and architectural experiment of a great modernity - seems to have managed to preserve the founding characteristics and its own recognition both from the point of aesthetic and architectural sight. However, it inevitably appears threatened by the disorder of today's urbanization and by the needs of transformation of the existing to make it fit the current needs and this despite the Piano Governo del Territorio tries through an ad hoc regulation to safeguard the formal and foundational matrix of the center of the city, studying first of all the architectural and environmental values worthy of being highlighted and preserved, and at the same time indicating the design procedure necessary for their recognition, transformation and emphasis. In this context, the present essay - focusing on the case study of the former kindergarten San Filippo Neri, in which the combination of form and function represented an important element of identity - intends to contribute to develop methodologies and operational tools related to the existing project, starting from the necessary discernment of the its 'genetic code' that only an adequate process of knowledge can guarantee, up to the activities of conservation and/or strengthening of the technical identity (reaffirmation of the permanencies), adaptation and reuse.

Dalla conoscenza al riuso consapevole: il caso studio dell'ex-asilo San Filippo Neri a Dalmine

Versaci, Antonella
;
2018-01-01

Abstract

In our day, when we cross the city of Dalmine and look beyond the function of university campus characterizing its contemporary physical spaces, it is difficult not to notice the still largely visible signs of that utopian design of the company town - made of houses for workers, schools, farms, guest houses, canteens, small shops and factory outlets - prefigured by the Milanese architect Giovanni Greppi. Born from the social tension of an Italy that, despite coming out victorious from the First World War, had been deeply changed by the conflict, the small centre embodied the will - also for propaganda purposes - of the Fascist regime to create a new city seen as emblematic place of an ideal society in which the company set itself, as a final goal, the well-being and serenity of the workers. Founded on July 7, 1927 on the land adjacent to the factory, Dalmine will be established around the new piazza dell’Impero - with the flagpole, famous for being the tallest in Europe, on which the Nation's flag will fly - and the Casa Littoria, the Palazzo Comunale, the kindergarten, the school, the dopolavoro (after-work) and other leisure and collective buildings. These architectural works will prove to be essential elements in the organization of an industrial model village, based on a close network of relations with local institutions and the territory, aimed at implementing social, welfare and recreational actions for the employees of the company and their families. In the post-war period, even if in a totally renewed political-institutional and industrial framework, these buildings will maintain the role of nodes of a complex and efficient system of human relations, representing its material trace and its strongest identity character. Following the sale to the Municipality of the main social edifices and the alienation of some other assets to private individuals, the city of Greppi - a social, urban planning and architectural experiment of a great modernity - seems to have managed to preserve the founding characteristics and its own recognition both from the point of aesthetic and architectural sight. However, it inevitably appears threatened by the disorder of today's urbanization and by the needs of transformation of the existing to make it fit the current needs and this despite the Piano Governo del Territorio tries through an ad hoc regulation to safeguard the formal and foundational matrix of the center of the city, studying first of all the architectural and environmental values worthy of being highlighted and preserved, and at the same time indicating the design procedure necessary for their recognition, transformation and emphasis. In this context, the present essay - focusing on the case study of the former kindergarten San Filippo Neri, in which the combination of form and function represented an important element of identity - intends to contribute to develop methodologies and operational tools related to the existing project, starting from the necessary discernment of the its 'genetic code' that only an adequate process of knowledge can guarantee, up to the activities of conservation and/or strengthening of the technical identity (reaffirmation of the permanencies), adaptation and reuse.
2018
978-88-492-3659-0
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11387/133623
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