Abstract

The preservation of 20th century architecture has now fully entered the wider disciplinary culture of conservation. However, in practice, this cultural awareness clashes with the difficulties involved in adapting recent buildings to current building regulations. In fact, 20th century buildings present specific issues, connected to the materials and techniques used for the construction, as well as to the complex and innovative spatiality; the continuous experimentations in all these areas have been among the characteristic features of architectural and engineering research of the past century. For these reasons, in view of a restoration and re-functionalization of these buildings, it is a priority to carry out a careful evaluation of the structural performances, both as regards the level of safety in static conditions and from the point of view of seismic behaviour. Experimental activities, including dynamic tests, are part of those operations aimed at identifying the structural characteristics, determining the state of health of the structure and predicting the response to seismic actions. In order to demonstrate a correct approach to these issues, the lecture reports some significant results recently obtained on the structural analysis, seismic assessment and diagnosis of four important 20th century heritage buildings in Italy, included the pavilions built by Pier Luigi Nervi and Riccardo Morandi in the monumental complex of Turin Exhibition Centre, which represent a milestone in the history of modern engineering and architecture,