FROM SUPERELEVATION TO REFURBISHMENT THE CASE OF THE ATER QUARTER IN VIA GRAMSCI, ROVIGO (1967-1971)

Refurbishment of existing buildings, in order to reduce environmental impact, both as far as land take and CO2 emissions are concerned, is one of the priorities of international research. Quantitatively, 1950-1990- built residential housing accounts for the highest energy consumption, since its low-quality technology has caused its swift material and performance-related (not to mention social and urban) decay. The paper presents the first results of the research, concerning methodologies and qualitative analyses, whose objects have been twofold: identifying the criteria and guidelines of intervention when adding floors, paying particular attention to construction related and structural aspects, and roughly testing such criteria through one case study, namely a 1970s ATER public residential housing building. The analysis of the building and its modelling through ad hoc software (Revit and Midas) has allowed both to define innovative construction-related solutions in order to add floors, and to determine a first evaluation of its feasibility in a digital environment, analysing the building before and after the intervention – besides while work was in progress – underlining the potentialities and drawbacks adding floors implies.