Giuseppe Vaccaro tra sperimentazione e conservazione. La Facoltà di Ingegneria di Bologna (1933-1935)

During the two decades of the Fascist period in Italy, Giuseppe Vaccaro interpreted the constant architectural tension between the rhetoric of Roman revivalism and an unadorned modernity: a taut contrast which he expressed by interweaving experiments in composition, materials and techniques, allowing him to achieve what his mentor Marcello Piacentini defined as a “definitive monumentality”, in the form of “uniquely Italian works”. In those years, the Emilia-Romagna region, and especially Bologna, the architect’s native city, hosted an intensive series of studies, projects and initiatives of both private and public construction that furthered the development of such experiments, including the Agip seaside children’s hostel in Cesenatico, numerous homes in the regional seat of Bologna and the surrounding area, as well as districts of public housing, such as the Barca neighbourhood, plus the four buildings commissioned by the Cooperative of War Invalids and, most significantly, the Department of Engineering. Located near the city’s historic core, next to an urban area with an abundance of vegetation, Bologna’s university facility provides evidence of how the construction successfully manifested not only the innovations of the period, in terms of forms and materials, but also the continuity, over time, of the function for which the complex had originally been designed. The surfaces of this majestic, sophisticated architectural work alternately employ traditional construction materials, along with others produced industrially. Innovative materials that serve as invaluable evidence of the research and architectural methods of Italy’s period of self-reliant autarchy can also be found among the insulation fittings and the decorative furnishings developed for the complex, not to mention the extensive but thin fixtures supplied by the well-known local firm of Curti S.A. The attention focussed on the structure’s lighting is confirmed by the plant-engineering features, worthy of note not only for their painstaking electrical design, but also the innovative systems of ventilation and inter-floor connection. Starting with an overview of the techniques employed by the Bologna-born architect during his experimentation with design in those years, the essay takes an in-depth look at the innovative features and materials of the Department of Engineering of the University of Bologna, highlighting what remains today, as well as the related issues of preservation, all with an eye towards safeguarding the complex, which is still used as the site of the University’s School of Engineering and Architecture.