Il restauro del Béton Brut negli edifici del movimento moderno. Durabilità versus linguaggio / The restoration of Béton Brut in modernist buildings. Durability versus language

Abstract

The architects of the Modern Movement and the Brutalists, aware of its mechanical properties, also used Béton Brut to experiment with its formal potential and emphasize the expressiveness of their works. However, excessive confidence in these possibilities, inadequate workmanship, aggressive atmospheric pollution and the physiological perishability of the materials led over the years to a decline in both the mechanical performance and durability and the expressiveness of the works. When the recognizability of the architectural value required the conservation of the buildings, the problem of formal restoration also emerged forcefully. Current technologies allow for restoration work that can remedy structural deficiencies and ensure greater durability of the artefacts, but when the intervention must restore the original image, perhaps by recovering the design of the formwork imprinted on the façade or recalibrating the original colors of the polished surfaces, the knowledge and technologies at our disposal do not always appear adequate.