Principi ed azioni di progetto nei casi di restauro del moderno

A reflection upon all designs related to the “restoration of modern architecture” developed within the PhD in Architectural Designheld in Palermo permits to verify processes and outcomes of a method applied in very different architectural works.The research method followed in this PhD has always underlined its freedom from a priori theories, confirming a “case by case” research without following the typical tendency of “restoration of modern architecture” which tends to choose a one-way direction towards a mere rehabilitation.Starting from a brief survey of various case studies, it is possible to draw up a double list: one for famous works, widely studied by historiography, and another for seemingly minor works, almost entirely unknown, which, for their real quality and their relationship with the place they belong to, make clear the gravity of their exclusion from modern and contemporary history handbooks.Through the identification of four topics, we’ll try to reflect on the entire work done by this PhD, avoiding the fragmentation that would arise by the interpretation of every individual work. Within these topics it is possible to make considerations on a large part of this doctoral work, suggesting perhaps little obvious connections and highlighting a specific quality of architecture produced in the so-called “heroic years” of modern architecture between the two World Wars: the utopian and moral strength on which large part of modern architecture is founded.The thirty selected theses can thus be divided into four groups based on the prevailing topic: soil design; connections and urban routes; adjustments and changes of use; additions/completions.What may seem a simplistic exercise is, in fact, a necessary synthesis to bring light to all the reasoning, pointing to common research topics in works sometimes both geographically and chronologically distant. The identification of these elements derives from the same logos that led the restoration works on the basis of the principles inherent in the works.