The concert-hall of Music School “Conservatorio di Musica G. Frescobaldi” in Ferrara (Italy) was built from 1935 to 1939, inside the fifteenth century urban block of S. Anna hospital. This project, by engineer Carlo Savonuzzi, was based on a new urban planning of an important part of the historic centre of Ferrara: through the demolition of some architectural elements of the old hospital (Sale delle Donne, cella di Torquato Tasso) this plan define a new urban structure, formed by music school with its concert-hall, railworkmen’s club with cinema, natural history Museum and “Alda Costa” school. In a similar way as engineer Savonuzzi conceived the cinema’s and museum building’s case, the concert-hall was built using old hospital’s walls, through a double (interior and exterior) coating: outside new brick surfaces were placed on the existing walls, designing monumental fronts; inside new plaster surfaces define an extraordinary acoustic and architectural space, in spite of not favourable proportions of the hospital’s hall. That excellent acoustic result was possible not only through Savonuzzi’s design of interior form of the concert-hall, appreciated during half a century by a large part of audience and musicians, but even through an experimental acoustic use of amianthus in the plaster that coated the interior surfaces of this space. This characteristics caused the closing of the concert-hall since 10 years ago, because of the dangerous effects of that building material and revealed the need to integrate conservation and restoration methods with architectural design ones, because of the impossibility to conserve some building materials. In 2006, a group of researchers of the Department of Architecture, University of Ferrara, with the scientific coordination of A. Massarente, was charged with the restoration project of the concert-hall by Music School , Municipality of Ferrara and bank institution “Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara”.

Recomposition’s paradoxes. A research case study on a concert-hall in Ferrara

MASSARENTE, Alessandro
2012

Abstract

The concert-hall of Music School “Conservatorio di Musica G. Frescobaldi” in Ferrara (Italy) was built from 1935 to 1939, inside the fifteenth century urban block of S. Anna hospital. This project, by engineer Carlo Savonuzzi, was based on a new urban planning of an important part of the historic centre of Ferrara: through the demolition of some architectural elements of the old hospital (Sale delle Donne, cella di Torquato Tasso) this plan define a new urban structure, formed by music school with its concert-hall, railworkmen’s club with cinema, natural history Museum and “Alda Costa” school. In a similar way as engineer Savonuzzi conceived the cinema’s and museum building’s case, the concert-hall was built using old hospital’s walls, through a double (interior and exterior) coating: outside new brick surfaces were placed on the existing walls, designing monumental fronts; inside new plaster surfaces define an extraordinary acoustic and architectural space, in spite of not favourable proportions of the hospital’s hall. That excellent acoustic result was possible not only through Savonuzzi’s design of interior form of the concert-hall, appreciated during half a century by a large part of audience and musicians, but even through an experimental acoustic use of amianthus in the plaster that coated the interior surfaces of this space. This characteristics caused the closing of the concert-hall since 10 years ago, because of the dangerous effects of that building material and revealed the need to integrate conservation and restoration methods with architectural design ones, because of the impossibility to conserve some building materials. In 2006, a group of researchers of the Department of Architecture, University of Ferrara, with the scientific coordination of A. Massarente, was charged with the restoration project of the concert-hall by Music School , Municipality of Ferrara and bank institution “Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara”.
2012
9782930301563
urban planning; concert-hall; re-composition; fragments; architectural design tools and methods; acoustic form
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11392/1714497
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