A sustainable state of mind. Proposte per un progetto di restauro: la Casa del Fascio di Predappio e l'Asilo Santarelli di Forlì

The Casa del Fascio in Predappio and the Santarelli Kindergarten in Forlì are not able to hide, behind their characteristic monumentality, typical of the Fascist Regime, a deep frailty in terms of durability, capability of “growing old” and answering to energy efficiency requirements. Their current state of conservation calls for a reflection concerning the problem of sustainability applied to the restoration of Modern Architecture, a theme developed starting from the results of researches in fieri at the Architecture Department of Bologna University. The restoration project, aiming at tradere these architectures, adopts the logics of reuse and keeping what exists and fights against the process of progressive consumption, abandon and disposal of matter, becoming the very first aware choice towards the sustainability aims. Here, a “sustainable” intervention upon the preexistence does not mean to conform historical architectures to mere prescriptive reasons, but rather to govern the behaviors of the building, in order to improve its performances avoiding unacceptable material and formal sacrifices, causes of an irreversible loss of identity. To respect the authenticity of the buildings, an accurate knowledge both of the architectures and their histories, has to lead the whole designing process and has to suggest, on a case-by-case basis, the solutions best fitting to the context, the system morphology and the constructive details. In this way, not a fixed operative praxis is defined, but a possible methodological approach, as said, a sustainable state of mind.