From September 18 to 22, 2023, in the earthquake-ravaged central Italian town of Accumoli, educators, doctoral candidates, and students worked on the conceptual basis for the comprehensive reconstruction of the town as part of the Erasmus+ project "Complex Participatory Reconstruction of Urban Structures" (Acronym ComPaRe). Collective knowledge about the appearance of the town before the earthquake, one of the results of the project seminar, is considered a relevant knowledge foundation alongside archives. The project is led by the Research Lab for Sustainable Built Cultural Heritage at the University for Continuing Education Krems. It develops teaching methods and didactic tools for dealing with the complex reconstruction of destroyed historical centers.
September 9th, 2023
"By using appropriate methods and tools to acquire knowledge about the destroyed area as a consequence of disasters, the ComPaRe project aims to create a basis for concepts of comprehensive reconstruction using the Accumoli case as a model. Furthermore, the appearance of places before the disaster should be virtually simulated," summarizes Univ.-Prof. Dipl. Arch. ETH Dr. Christian Hanus, Head of the Research Lab for Sustainable Built Cultural Heritage, the goals of the Erasmus project coordinated by the lab. From September 18 to 22, over 40 students, educators, and doctoral candidates from the institutions involved in the project gathered in Accumoli to advance on-site concept development and discuss previous findings from the project.
Collective knowledge as a relevant foundation
Many unassuming but historically significant buildings, mostly residential structures, in Accumoli were often only rudimentarily documented. In a structured exchange with the local civil society, relevant information about the structure and usage patterns is being uncovered within the framework of ComPaRe. It is evident that, in addition to this collective knowledge, archives and numerous, sometimes now-recovered, private documents are another important source of information.
Analysis of building substance
Building substance is to be assessed both in terms of its historical and art historical significance and from a constructional and functional perspective. Damages provide insights into the causes of destruction, and material analyses draw conclusions about the physical properties of the constructions. Through the use of "Terrestrial Laser Scanning" (TLS), photogrammetry, and "Building Information Modeling" (BIM) using drones, foundational plans for reconstruction can be developed. The combined use of these tools is interdisciplinary and is also taught within the framework of ComPaRe, including during the recent project seminar. All disciplines are challenged to process the information in a way that is useful and understandable for others.
Fundamental questions are often overlooked
Although fundamental strategies for the reconstruction of Accumoli have been developed at the regional and city levels, countless questions remain unanswered in the implementation of concrete planning projects. The identification of these fundamental questions, the substantive examination, and the development of solutions represent another area of responsibility that individuals from all disciplines involved in reconstruction must address.
Through the development of interdisciplinary teaching formats that address all these questions and challenges surrounding the complexity of comprehensive reconstruction, future experts are intended to be qualified for this task. The goal is to develop common curricula that will be offered by partner institutions and others in the future.
The internationally coordinated partner consortium led by the University for Continuing Education Krems includes Sapienza University of Rome, the University of Camerino, the Czech Technical University in Prague, Masaryk University in Brno, the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The municipality of Accumoli, the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant'Anselmo in Rome, and the association "Venti di Cultura" are participating as associated partners in the project.