Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 39. (1986)

Archive Buildings and the Conservation of Archival Material. An Expert Meeting, held in Vienna, Austria October 30 - November 1, 1985 - CARASSI, Marco – MASSABO-RICCI, Isabella: Italian Experiences in the Adaptation of Ancient Buildings

ITALIAN EXPERIENCES IN THE ADAPTATION OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS

By Marco Carassi and Isabella Massabö-Ricci

During this seminar the strongest arguments seem to have been put forward in favour of the construction of new buildings as archive repositories.

On the contrary we are now engaged in Turin in the transformation of two historical buildings.

One of them was built in 1731 by the architect Filippo Juvarra as the central archives of the Kingdom of the House of Savoy. It is therefore one of the most ancient buildings in Europe designed from its very beginning as an archive. To abandon it would have been a serious historical mistake.

The other building, a former hospital built in 1818 was adapted for archival use in 1925 in order to solve the lack of space in the ancient Juvarra’s archives, but this was with uncorrect architectural adaptations which have now to be modified. The two buildings are quite different, although their problems are essentially similar.

While the Royal Archives require less important adaptations thanks to its original architectural qualities, the other building requires more complex solutions which are considered here. To the ancient hospital, shaped as a St Andrew’s cross (four wings converging in an hexagonal chapel in the middle), a fifth wing was added in 1925. The whole complex now has four floors, one of them being half-underground (see illustrations nn. 1 and 2). Among the planned works the most difficult ones are examined here.

General architectural restoration:

It is intended to restore the building to its original structure eliminating some of the parts added in 1925 which proved to be structurally wrong and not functional, as for instance a weak concrete slab which is the actual first floor.

The consolidation of walls and vaults:

The restoration reduces the total useful area. On the other hand the intended use of the building as an archive requires a consolidation of load-bearing walls and vaults so that the mass of documents can be safely redistributed. In such a way each stack-room, restored and provided with compact shelves, will hold an average 3000 linear metres instead of the original approximately 800. With this structural improvement the load-bearing capacity of floors will eventually