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The paper illustrates some of the results of the interdepartmental research Prosit “PROgettare in SostenibilITà: qualification and digitization in construction”, analyzing some of the key steps aimed at testing, compatibly with the regulatory and technological framework, new possible applications of recycled materials from construction and demolition (C&D) in sustainable and innovative supply chains. The Eurostat report “Recovery rate of construction and demolition waste” of 2022 shows how Italy, already in 2018, starts to recover about 98% of the waste from C&D activities considered non-hazardous, mainly for the construction of embankments and road foundations. The research, therefore, identifies in the use of file-to-factory technologies a possible way to extend the scope of application of the reuse of these resources to the realization of diversified and non-standard manufactures and components, in the perspective of a greater spread of virtuous practices of circular economy in the construction sector. In this sense, a process “algorithm” is described, designed to be scaled and replicated in different contexts for similar purposes.

Nello scenario della digitalizzazione il progetto di architettura si confronta con una condizione epistemologica inedita. Le tecnologie digitali, non semplici strumenti, rappresentano una inconsueta forza di elaborazione del sapere, con un ruolo di mediazione socio-tecnica tra i protagonisti del processo progettuale, nel contesto culturale nel quale si inseriscono. Partendo dall’assunto che il Digitale si sia sviluppato con continuità in una prospettiva di lunga durata, il volume intende riflettere sulle profonde modifiche che le tecnologie digitali stanno determinando nei processi di trasformazione dell’ambiente costruito, con considerazioni sulla possibilità/capacità del progettista di gestire l’innovazione tecnologica in maniera responsabile, prefigurando un futuro capace di guidare la progettualità nel presente. / In a digital scenario the architectural design has to deal with a new epistemological condition. Digital technologies, far from mere tools, represent a significant force in the elaboration of knowledge, taking on the role of elements of socio-technical mediation between the actors of the process in the cultural context in which they act. Starting from the assumption that the Digital did not appear suddenly, but that it evolved continuously in a long-lasting framework, the book wants to reflect on the deep changes that digital technologies are causing on the processes of transformation of the built environment, with considerations about the possibility/ability of the architect to manage technological innovation in a responsible way and to prefigure a future able to guide the design activity today.

The operational/management phase is the one most affected by an ineffective organization of information, which occurred in the previous phases. The activity of this applied research had the objective of verifying the possibility of reducing the problems that arise between the executive phase and the Management phase, through the improvement of the interaction between the different protagonists in the exchange, sharing and updating of informational datasets. The work focused on the case study of the Apple Developer Academy in Naples, the first school in Europe for the development of digital mobile applications, with respect to which the management strategies were simulated starting from the development of an Informational Modeling functional to the operational phase of the spaces.

New technologies are needed in structures and services in order to reduce the great energy consumption of buildings. A major share of the energy demand is used for controlling the indoor climate. The requirements are only growing due to tightening regulation and increasing comfort expectations of the users. The wide use of air conditioning systems illustrates this trend. Phase Changing Materials (PCM) open an alternative potential to return a part of cooling needs based upon melting and solidifying properties of some special components within a room temperature range. Thanks to this phenomenon, some degrees of additional control can be achieved. Experimental results from laboratory tests and monitoring results in two rooms of two actual buildings presented in this paper show that gypsum plaster finishings with a thin layer of 5 mm of PCM are favourable to achieve 2 to 5°C reduction in the temperature swing in rooms.

La ricerca del rapporto fra eco-efficienza e innovazione tecnologica rappresenta uno dei principali ambiti di applicazione di numerosi progettisti impegnati nel campo della sostenibilità. All’interno di tale ambito, l’aspirazione ad un’architettura più “responsabile” è riscontrabile in modo particolarmente evidente nel lavoro dello studio britannico Sheppard Robson, che restituisce una visione dell’architettura intesa come un ininterrotto processo di ridefinizione delle possibili relazioni tra gli aspetti ambientali, sociali ed economici del progetto sostenibile. Nel corso di numerosi decenni Sheppard Robson è riuscito ad occupare un posto centrale nel panorama architettonico, dedicando una specifica attenzione ai temi dell’ambiente, dell’innovazione, del trasferimento tecnologico, della progettazione integrata. Un impegno professionale il cui risultato è l’esito di un atteggiamento mentale tipico di progettisti, architetti e sperimentatori che interpretano la cultura del progetto come possibilità e desiderio di applicare e approfondire il concetto di “nuovo”, dimostrando di saper comprendere e adattare i processi di innovazione tecnologica in atto, per trasformarli in strumenti figurativi. Il testo, esito di una ricerca sviluppata da tempo sui temi della architettura sostenibile nel Regno Unito, presenta, in edizione bilingue, una disamina dei progetti più rappresentativi del gruppo britannico, caratterizzati da una specifica attenzione alle questioni connesse alla eco-efficienza e all’innovazione, ed è corredato da un’intervista ad Alan Shingler, uno dei principali soci di Sheppard Robson e responsabile del settore “sostenibilità”. The relationship between eco-efficiency and technological innovation represents one of the most important areas of application for numerous architects interested in sustainability. Within this area, the aspiration to a more “responsible” architecture is particularly evident in the work of Sheppard Robson, that returns a vision of architecture conceived as a non-stop process of redefinition of the possible relationships among environmental, social and economic aspects of the sustainable project. During several decades Sheppard Robson has succeeded in occupying a central place in British architectural panorama devoting, since its formation, specific attention to the issues of environment, innovation, technological transfer, integrated design. A professional commitment that is the result of a mental attitude typical of designers, architects and experimenters that interpret the design culture as possibility and desire to apply and to deepen the concept of “new”, showing to know how to understand and adapt the processes of technological innovation in action, transforming them in figurative tools. The work, result of a research developed for a long time on the issues on sustainable architecture in the United Kingdom, presents, in bilingual edition, an exam of the most representative projects of the British group, characterized by a specific attention to the issues of eco-efficiency and innovation, and contains an interview to Alan Shingler, one of the principal partners of Sheppard Robson and responsible of the sector “sustainability”.

Il saggio descrive alcuni aspetti originali dell'opera di Renzo Piano e del lavoro del RPBW nell'arco degli ultimi 50 anni. In particolare, il saggio mette in luce il carattere artigianale e sperimentale del lavoro dell'architetto genovese e del valore altamente umanistico del suo magistero all'interno del suo studio/laboratorio

Il saggio affronta il tema del progetto di architettura introducendo la dimensione ecologica come nuovo orizzonte di senso per comprendere le opportunità offerte dalla diffusione delle tecnologie digitali per generare una nuova cultura tecnologica in sintonia che sappia intepretare le istanze provenienti dal mondo naturale.

The new digital technologies for prediction and control of form and performance often enter the design process directly, risking the develop- ment of autonomous processes distant from the architectural objectives. Instead, these new instruments could allow us to open to new developments in the design experience. The Environmental Ceramics for Architecture Laboratory (ECAlab), of the Liverpool School of Architecture, combines design, research and training, materiality and immateriality, science and art, tradition and digital technologies, all responding to the urgent need for sustainable development.

Il saggio presenta una riflessione critica sull'evoluzione della cultura digitale negli ultimi venti anni, cercando di metterne in evidenza alcune contraddizioni interne ed i contenuti di complessità legati non solo ad aspetti tecnici e strumentali ma soprattutto alla sua progressiva presenza nei processi cognitivi del progetto di architettura.

La progressiva comprensione della significativa sfida di natura culturale, legislativa e tecnologica che rappresenta l’azione di rinnovamento del patrimonio costruito storico, sta conducendo allo sviluppo di numerose ricerche di tipo interdisciplinare, finalizzate a comprendere il più corretto rapporto tra istanze conservative e richieste prestazionali. Il contributo ha l’obiettivo di delineare le possibili sinergie tra le azioni finalizzate alla trasformazione di tale patrimonio e le logiche di intervento basate sulle innovazioni di processo determinate dalla progressiva diffusione delle strumentazioni digitali information-based.

Currently, in the international architectural context, complex shapes represent a support capable to allow interesting experiments aimed at the realization of sustainable shells. The purpose of this contribution is to identify a useful method to control the design of parametric surfaces through computation of technological solutions that improve the feasibility, maintainability and durability of results. Currently, this process is strongly favored by the development of computational tools based on user friendly visual scripting approach. These instruments facilitate the self-construction of the building product and allow to control the process from conception and design to manufacturing and assembly. Therefore, we think that the use of computational tools allows to enlarge the participatory dimension for the project of complex shapes. However, this approach requires a cultural refinement, generating organizational and technological knowledge. From research to practice, this approach is possible through the conscious collaboration of all the various figures involved within an integrated process for generating efficient and optimized systems from the constructive, economic and aesthetic point of view. The control of the shape and development of technologies are important to enable searching of integrated and innovative solutions, technologically sustainable and optimized. The contribution aims to highlight how the feasibility of complex shapes is related to the combination of strategies for the discretization of continuous with control of the entire system to encourage the creation of sustainable solutions. In particular, some representative cases allow to highlight the advancements developed in the current research area of the Architectural Geometry, and more precisely about paneling architectural free from surfaces topic. The research examines the issue of single curvature surfaces (developable surfaces), and shows how these surfaces are extremely convenient for the manufacture of complex surface. Hence, the purpose of this research is to obtain complex surfaces with zero or negative Gaussian curvature to break them down into elements developable: Digital Form Finding approach is useful to obtain interesting results. These surfaces allow to reduce production costs and facilitate the control of the manufacture and assembly phases. The collaboration between architects, engineers, mathematicians, computer scientists, educators and users can radically redefine the relationship between design and production: therefore, through a pedagogical activity, the aim is to generate a possible hierarchical system aimed to self-construction of the building product. Therefore, the purpose is to demonstrate how the geometry can be used as an analytical and planning tool, useful to integrate new forms and new materials in search of sustainable solutions and integrated approaches.

The territory of contemporary Intercultural city finds its consistency in the rising role of the plural and multi-ethnic parameters of urban, social and economic change (Bianchini, Bloomfield 2004). At the very beginning of civilization, ritual events contained the meaning of life of first communities; now they are considered as important factors of mediation in order to promote social cohesion and inclusion, in the attempt to overcome exclusive models and sectorial territory managements, centered on the enhancement of divisions (Schuster 2001). The emphasis on the culture of the city, as a parameter of the distinctive quality of the environment, does not relate only to scientific or artistic products or activities of communities, but more generally to their way of living together as a set of actions, practices, uses, etc.

The city is in constant evolution, catalyst of creativity and innovation, but it is also the place of social identity and historical memory. Our cities are soaked in culturally significant realities, which continually need of restoration and maintenance. Therefore, the city is cyclically affected by the presence of construction sites that hinder the usual physical and perceptive fruition. If it is true that the Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape clarifies that the concept of cultural heritage development mainly concerns the promotion of public knowledge and fruition, "the existent historicity preservation must not deny the continuity of the transformation process" (Torsello, 2005). Then, using the places of transformation such as places of experimentation and spread of knowledge, we produce a new contemporary image of the city, territory and monument, in order to allow transmission in the future of the meaning and value of the existing physical space. The research work focuses on these issues and here we present some critical insights. Traditionally conceived as transitory and temporary element and as an evident perceptive degradation, the construction site can be interpreted as an opportunity to test useful intervention strategies in the management of public space. Above all, consideration has been given to the meaning of public space in terms of "occasion-sharing" to be used with the aim of a joint growth in the sense of citizenship, through which virtuous creative pushes can be trigged. To achieve these objectives, it is necessary to operate at different levels and for different types of users (workers, tourists, occasional users), ensuring the continuity of the works and the direct or indirect fruition of the heritage. The construction site out of necessity prevents the monument fruition, but the fence, protective element that usually "hides", can become "a knowledge instrument". Assuming that the limitations of the construction site, are the translation in terms of physical constraints of the direct fruition of the heritage, the question that is the backdrop to research is “in which way is it possible to make these devices elements of the urban landscape and elements capable of giving an additional value to the hidden good”. The answers are translated as part of valorization plans, in feasibility solutions and design guidelines, which aim to promote a transformation process, which can really be defined "sustainable" by exploiting communication strategies, contributing to transform a traditional construction site in a "construction site of knowledge".

“The word "inhabiting" means something more than having a roof overhead and a number of square meters available. First of all, it means meeting other human beings to exchange goods, ideas and feelings, that is to experience life as a multitude of possibilities. Second, it means to agree with some of them, that is to accept a number of common values. And finally, it means being yourself, that is to choose a small personal world.”(Norberg-Schulz 1984) The project of architecture for the city finds itself at a crossroad: being the sensible demonstration of a personal attitude towards the profession, or disappearing into the processes and hide itself, in the best scenario, behind temporary shapes. It is evident that architecture is called to not look only at the single object, but at wider and more complex contexts, in which the emerges the necessity for the creation of new balance and for the start of processes of identity and spatial appropriation. But still too few are the examples capable of authentically being themselves while at the same time being able to re-interpret the identity of the places re-configuring new scenarios in continuity with the natural atmospheric reality of places. Only in built spaces strongly tied to a context, it is possible for the life to go on authentically, creating a “significant relation between a human being and a given environment”, so that “the condition of living” occurs. (Norberg-Schulz 1984) Starting from the assumption that inhabiting does not mean to simply reside, but to live the spaces of the city, we faced a reflection through the reading of three cases (Quinta da Malagueira housing complex in Evora of Alvaro Siza, Reconfiguration of a Shanty Town in Seoul of Florian Beigel and Philip Christou, Elemental project directed by Alejandro Aravena) trying to comprehend how it could be possible today to inhabit private and public spaces, and what are the values that can be expressed in them and in which the people can recognise themselves, to inhabit them and to look after them. Said cases have been chosen as examples of contemporary architectures capable of rediscovering and amplifying the identity of specific places through the systematisation of physical and abstract elements.

Today the redevelopment existing building is enhanced with a new dimension, both as regards the co that performance. The built heritage should aspire to energy efficiency, beyond the concessions of the existing rules for buildings of historical interest. Is the need to orient the redevelopment in the direction of energy efficiency and at the same time to evaluate the behavior. It represent a new methodology to evaluate the behavior of the old building. The evaluation involves the need to "measure", in order to activate a process that optimizes the design and ending with the forecast. Planning and forecasting change the approach to the redevelopment of built which requires the measurement. The words of Galileo "measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not" seems a teaching that is open to change. Today, the measurability of consumption, savings and the factors that influence them is essential in the project and become a tool to ensure the quality of the intervention made. Today the dynamic simulation of the building, using executable software, buy an instrumental value in the restoration project. So it's possible to identify the potential and limits of the building and to govern them. Each constructive solution proposed is defined then having analyzed different options through the output of the software itself. Each building owns potential and limitations offered by the historical context, material and technology to which it belongs. In it returns the cognitive phase, which begins the restoration project. This phase is expanded and enriched by "data", in the transition from the project idea to its complete definition. In fact, the figures are a kind of language, which reflects the approach to the project and makes the operation more efficient. The goal is to maximize the expected performance. And it is the knowledge to need assessments expressed with numerical data and that guide the cognitive stage towards science. You cannot measure what you do not know really. So even the knowledge experience of the future behavior of the existing built is the prerequisite for energy efficiency to be achieved. Then by the condition of culture is transformed into opportunities.

/ La crisi globale del nostro modello di sviluppo coinvolge direttamente l'architettura, se è vero che per Gadamer il suo ruolo “reggente e fondante” riguarda la capacità di rappresentare nelle istituzioni un orizzonte di coscienza comune, in cui una comunità possa auto-rappresentarsi e riconoscersi. Per Bauman (2000) si tratta di un salto epistemico epocale nel quale vengono liquefatti tutti i presupposti sociali sui quali l'individuo fondava la sua natura di uomo pubblico (Sennet, 1982), la sua capacità e volontà di partecipare e di comunicare, in altre parole la sua identità. Sulla base di tali presupposti, il mio lavoro intende indagare una delle strade che l'architettura suggerisce per rigenerare l'individuo e ripensare i propri presupposti monumentali (da memento, ricordare) e rappresentativi nell'epoca della modernità liquida. Per fare ciò, prende in esame l'opera dell'architetto John Hejduk e specialmente l'architettura delle “maschere”, la quale affronta profeticamente nella società americana dei primi anni '80 i temi della nostra attualità globale ed universale: la solitudine dell'individuo, il rapporto tra individuo e collettività e quindi la questione urbana e politica (polis), la “perdita del centro” e la conseguente crisi del linguaggio architettonico (e la conseguente condizione babelica e simulacrale in cui versa l'architettura contemporanea). La risposta di Hejduk mira direttamente al cuore dell'architettura, riguarda cioè la ricerca di una ragione in comune tra architettura e utente, che passi attraverso la dimensione simbolica e archetipica. Se le convenzioni sulle quali si era costruita la città borghese non vengono oramai più riconosciute, l'architettura mette in campo tutto il suo potenziale espressivo operando su due fronti: la rieducazione e la cura dell'individuo attraverso la formulazione di nuovi programmi funzionali “ad hoc”; una ri-monumentalizzazione dell'architettura attraverso un'espressione formale che, facendo leva sulla potenza evocativa del simbolo, sia in grado di “incontrare” il cittadino-utente nel profondo della sua natura inconscia ed archetipica. The global crisis in our development model affects architecture directly, if it is true that for Gadamer its “ruling and founding” role concerns its capacity to represent a horizon of common consciousness within institutions, in which a community can self-represent and recognize itself. For Bauman (2000) this is an epochal epistemic leap, in which all the social presuppositions that the individual used to found his nature as uomo pubblico on are liquefied (Sennet, 1982), along with his capacity and desire to participate and communicate, in other words, his identity. On the basis of these presuppositions, my work intends to investigate one of the roads that architecture suggests to regenerate the individual while reconsidering its own monumental (from memento, remember) and representative presuppositions in the era of liquid modernity. To do so, it looks at the work of the architect John Hejduk, and especially the architecture of “masques”, which, in the American society of the early '80s, prophetically tackled the themes of our global and universal contemporary situation: the solitude of the individual, the relationship between individual and community and hence the urban and political question (polis), the “loss of the centre” with the consequent crisis in architectural language (and the ensuing chaotic and simulacral condition contemporary architecture finds itself in). Hejduk's answer points directly at the heart of architecture, i.e. it concerns the search for a reason in common between architecture and user, passing via the symbolic and archetypal dimension. If the conventions on which the bourgeois city was built are no longer recognized, architecture brings into play all its expressive potential by operating on two fronts: re-education and care of the individual through the formulation of new "ad hoc" functional programmes; a re-monumentalization of architecture through formal expression that, by leveraging the evocative power of the symbol, is able to “meet” the citizen-user in the depths of his unconscious archetypal nature.

(ENG) --- Retrofitting practices to renovate the urban scene. If of the last years, the technical term “retrofit/retrofitting” has become largely used in the context of energy and technological upgrading of buildings, that has not been the case in the architectural and urban context. The lack of synergy between public and private entities as well as missing investments in the sector of social building has ampere a critical analysis on current changes and in the perspective given by the EU “Energy efficiency for the 2020” goal. Nevertheless, despite structural delays, it is today possible to apply retrofitting principles to building heritage following up the various experimentations carried out all over Italy. The sectors mainly bound to professional and academic traditions - architectonic design, urban planning and restoration - are laying back due to missing upgrading of teaching and training plans. Ongoing scepticism visà- vis sustainability issues retorted against key sectors so increasing the gap between the demand for energyefficient and sustainable buildings and a kind of offer, which still is poor in quantity and quality. In North-Eastern district, it often happens that buyers/clients are more informed, open and innovative than technical or academic sectors. On the basis of such premises, it is evident that the potential of urban retrofitting practices has not yet been understood or exploited in terms of its theoretical, design and operational value. The use of GBSC assessment, with LEED or ITACA protocols, can support but not replace the theoretical and disciplinary set of architecture; on the other hand, a traditional approach of architectonic design is now insufficient vis-à-vis new and upcoming issues. Only a pragmatic “problem solving” approach can relate methodological devices with “efficacy and efficiency” of the architectonic design and plan. The case studies analysed, at European and National level, highlight the spreading of urban re-generation strategies that are now involving also Continental urban peripheries and Italian city centres. In peripheralprovincial areas, the effort is mainly focused on the management and re-qualification of the existing building heritage, in line with trends and traditions of our country. A multi-year didactical experimentation of master thesis projects shows the occurring transition from traditional a technological-planning approach towards a multi-scalar vision tackling, at the same time, urban and managerial-economic issues. The first cases, in the school building sector, concentrated the focus on the so-called class A building with limited involvement of environmental and urban features. The second step envisaged instead the consideration of wider issues related to urban re-generation. The relationship with U.T. and local Administrations has allowed the creation of a true “think tank” structured with an “on demand” formula. The transfer of university applied research to the industrial manufacturing world, as a sort of spin-off, creates a sort of entrepreneurial and innovation incubator in those sectors which are closer to planning, designing and building (environment / clean technologies / building / advanced materials / software / ICT). The study of urban facts raises the question in a even more drastic way: how to assess the transformation that can be sustained by the urban system to improve its own efficiency, without causing a collapse in functional, economic and cultural terms? The other face of the coin, gentrification and empty city centres, poses the issue of re-qualification of the building heritage and application of best practices. Such negative trend can be observed, although at lighter level, in Emilia-Romagna, despite a long tradition of territorial good governance. After the 70’s and 80’s - and the large International debate which followed the “Bologna case” - the regional urban corpus has suffered from a considerable contraction in public initiatives; local bodies have controlled the transformation of urban areas almost exclusively by embellishing and decorative interventions in the city centres - without tackling the actual property status - and, at the same time, by leaving peripheral areas to a destiny of physical and social decay. Only with the burst of the financial crisis and the consequent spending cuts, the issue of social housing and building has come to the forefront in terms of its sustainability and necessity. The urgency is here that of tackling the complex chapter of upgrading the real estate owned by territorial bodies, establishing, case by case, actions and priorities. The theme of “retrofitting” as opportunity for change in the urban scene has taken over, in the last years, central importance in scientific and architectonic research also involving other discipline sectors such as sociology and psychology. Such aspects and issues - in the field of sustainability and energy saving - have been verified in different realities of the Italian building sector (i.e. in the regions Piedmont, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna). The European panorama is instead different: the approach has been that of developing research and methodologies aimed at harmonizing urban innovation, new constructions and re-use of building heritage. Starting from the French research, generating remarkable building and social results in urban peripheries, in the so-called Villes Nouvelles and Grandes Ensembles, even more interesting, in our view, is the German experience of the last twenty years. From the German re-unification (1990), interventions of urban recovery and building re-generation have more and more tackled and solved the issue of energy efficiency, a political and administrative commitment at National level. In such framework, it is possible to analyse also those interventions related to the differed reconstruction of the so-called “Baulücke” (urban lacunas) of war times and the recovery of obsolete or dismantled industrial areas. The large intervention of the residential district called Märkisches Viertel (Berlin-Reinickendorf) started in 2008, is about to accomplish one of the most ambitious recovery operations at European urban level. Smaller in size but perhaps more innovative from the operational-procedural perspective, are the interventions started by the Dresden company for social and territorial housing: in the Kräuter Siedlung - planned district of Görlitz, built in the DDR period - the most complete energy retrofitting experience has been achieved at European level in terms of urban, social and formal aspects. The use of the expression “urban scene” evokes the relationship between the city and the “theatre space” as place of social and civil representation, in close link with the territory. Already the current status of Italian North-Eastern land stretches as well as the beautiful Romagna country landscape show a seamless line of building interventions of medium-low quality visually overloaded by photovoltaic panels, windmills and solar panels, very little integrated or able to be integrated. Given as a fact the failure of any practice aimed at hampering such phenomenon, it is clear that the only possible way is the “virtuous use” of practices and technological devices required and imposed by sustainable planning and design onto design practice. An unresolved issue is still represented by energy upgrading of existing building heritage while there is increasing risk related to the visual pollution caused by the so-called “third landscape”. One more question regards the harmonization, within the project, of two apparently incompatible needs: the quick obsolescence of technological devices and the long duration and existence of a specific building and related urban fabric. Surely, the theme of “re-use” of materials, on top of space re-utilization, has not yet spread enough in university classes and professional studios : the theme is instead a focal point for change in terms of restoration, recovery, urban installations and structural elements. Many European young designers are attracted today by the re-use of waste materials to which new life and expression can be given. That is a framework of vast interest that - beyond the aura of being politically correct - could give impetus to unexpected research streams. The project becomes in this way physical and cultural stratification that, in the best cases, can be reversible or “light” vis-à-vis the rigidity of an ex-novo design. (ITA) --- Se negli ultimi anni il termine tecnico “retrofit” e la pratica del “retrofitting” sono divenute d’uso comune negli interventi di adeguamento energetico e tecnologico degli edifici, non può dirsi altrettanto dal punto di vista architettonico e urbano. Priva di una coerente ricerca tra enti pubblici e capitale privato, in assenza di investimenti nel settore dell’edilizia sociale, è mancata (e manca) un’adeguata riflessione critica capace di valutare e cogliere la portata dei mutamenti in atto e che si stanno delineando nella prospettiva del 20-20-20 prospettata dal comunitario “Energy efficiency for the 2020 goal”1. Malgrado i ritardi strutturali con i quali il nostro Paese ha avviato politiche di uso, risparmio e produzione energetica da fonti rinnovabili,molta parte del segmento alto della tecnologia dei materiali e degli impianti ha determinato - soprattutto nel settore del fotovoltaico - notevoli livelli di sviluppo e innovazione. È già possibile, quindi, applicare i principi del retrofitting e massimizzare gli effetti sul patrimonio edilizio, sulla scorta delle sperimentazioni che sono andate moltiplicandosi in tutta la Penisola. Diversamente, riteniamo che i settori più legati alla tradizione professionale e accademica - in primis la progettazione architettonica, l’urbanistica, il restauro - scontino pesantemente i ritardi nell’adeguamento dei programmi formativi. Il mantenersi di diffidenze e scetticismo verso le questioni della sostenibilità si è ripercosso nei settori chiave della disciplina e della professione, aumentando la divaricazione tra domanda di edifici eco-efficienti e sostenibili e un’offerta largamente inadeguata, tanto nel numero che nella qualità. Soprattutto nei distretti del Nord-Est si assiste alla situazione, per molti versi paradossale, di una committenza più informata, aperta ed innovativa dei settori tecnici e accademici preposti. Con tali premesse, va da sé che le valenze teorico-progettuali insite e le potenzialità operative del retrofitting urbano non siano state ancora sufficientemente (o affatto) indagate. In tal senso, l’uso di valutazioni GBSC, con protocolli LEED o ITACA, possono validamente supportare, ma non sostituire l’apparato teorico-disciplinare dell’architettura; per contro, un’impostazione tradizionale della progettazione architettonica è già dal momento presente non più praticabile e sufficiente a dare risposta alle questioni poste. Soltanto un atteggiamento pragmaticamente “problem solving” è in grado di coniugare raffinatezza di dispositivi metodologici con “efficacia ed efficienza” del progetto di architettura.