The space destined for shops has been closed in and converted into apartments , as also for the caretaker ’ s apartment , while the kindergarten area has been partly taken over by the area ’ s centre for the elderly . The social centre , in a not very evident position , is difficult to reach and , probably for this reason , over time , has become neglected and is in a state of marked deterioration . The building which in the project had been planned for the gym is today an empty unused area . The only positive note is the primary school , given that it has maintained its institutional role and has become a pole of attraction for the neighbouring areas . With the idea of a project aimed at improving the energy performance of the whole complex , one of the main problems appears to be linked to the architectural quality that marks the original work and , consequently , the choice of the projects in keeping with the desire to maintain and not destroy the buildings ’ original image . In the case of Vigne Nuove , the larger buildings were taken into consideration . The first phase of the study was aimed at an analysis of Building A under a layout , construction , structural and installation profile ( fig . 3 ). The main layout involves the positioning of eight stairwells that provide access to two dwellings per floor in the case of the simplexes ( 96 in total ) and four in the case of the duplexes ( 28 in total ). Ground anchoring had been originally solved by introducing a first level a pilotis , which today , unfortunately , has completely lost its meaning as the residents have , bit by bit , illegally closed off a lot of the available space creating private garages .
From the pilotis level there is no free access to the stairs and to reach the balconied gallery an external passage to the first floor must be used . The above two levels , the second and third , host duplex apartments which are accessed from the balconied gallery , at a height of 48.17 m , which is then connected to via Rodolfo Valentino by walkways . However , in these apartments , it was found that the projection of the day zone over the underlying night zone resulted in a continual lack of light . The higher levels , from the fourth up , are made up of simplex apartments , larger than the duplexes . Independently from the apartment typology , the services remain the same – the bathrooms with a north-east exposure and the kitchens , south-west . The study of the construction system resulted in identifying the materials used in the building . The exterior shell is a layer of 8 cm perforated plaster board , with a 14 cm cavity and an exterior prefabricated cement panel with an 8 cm grit-blasted finishing ; the walls between apartments are made of 16 cm thick concrete blocks , while the interior partitions are of 8 cm perforated plaster ; and the windows are single glazed with aluminium frames ; the stairwells are in-situ exposed concrete surfaces . The load-bearing reinforced cement skeleton structure was constructed based on a regular grid system , with gaps between the columns longitudinally alternating between 7.80 m and 2.70 m , while transversally the spacing is 4.58 m . The beams are all of the same height , the bordering ones placed parallel to the longitudinal ones are 1.00 x 0.37 m , while the cross beams are 0.44 x 0.37m ; instead , the transversal beams are 0.29 x 0.38 m . The bordering support columns are all the same size , 0.29 x 1.00 m , differently to the cross ones which taper off every two floors from 0.90 x 0.44 m on the ground level to 0.30 x 0.44 m on the top level ; the flooring is made of hollow cement bricks with a border to hold the poured concrete of the joists so the intrados surface appears as a continuous tile surface . In correspondence with the longer beams , at a distance of 40 m , we find the structure ’ s expansion joints which allow for the subdivision of the very narrow and long floor plan , 180 x12.60 m , into three smaller sections . The joint uses Gerber beams , which rest on top of 20 m sturdy brackets . Therefore , during the construction phase , the main frames were set in place first , due to the lower light element , and then the prefabricated
706 ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce , Italy