THE FORMER SANATORIUM “CASA DEL SOLE” IN PALERMO (ITALY): AN ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE FROM THE EARLY 1900s

This paper deals with the construction history of the “Casa del Sole” in Palermo, a significant example of architectural quality, typological and technological innovation, within the panorama of tuberculosis treatment and prophylaxis buildings. The complex, designed and built between 1919 and 1936 by the engineer Francesco Damiani, was one of the 1st application in Palermo of reinforced concrete frame and cantilevered structure. Damiani applied in their design this technique, he learned at the newly instituted Polytechnic of Turin, where he had graduated in 1911, in civil engineering. This structural choice was necessary to respond to specific typological and medical-curative needs, such as the need for large spaces for the dormitories, walls with large windows to guarantee high ventilation and considerable projecting structures in the verandas for the heliotherapy treatments, to shelter from the sun's rays. Even if these buildings are bound by Italian legislation on cultural heritage, their initial use was changed over the years, thus requiring substantial modifications: splitting up the large original collective spaces, the closure of the porches and verandas, leading to a formal and structural distortion of the buildings. A deep knowledge of such architecture is fundamental to design its re-functionalization which, while responding to new needs and new functions, respects the preservation of the formal, material, structural and technical integrity, according to the principles of the "Restoration of Modern”.