Bostenaru2 Icsa2010

PRESERVATION OF

HISTORICAL CONCRETE

STRUCTURES

Maria Bostenaru, Researcher, Foundation ERGOROM ’99

and “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism

Early reinforced concrete is not recognized as much as masonry is to be a material of

historic structures.

Like for 20th century architecture: not old enough

Early reinforced concrete was a place for innovation in structural solutions for

innovative architecture. Not only were special structures possible, but also

innovation was possible in the spatiality of less spectacular structures, such as the

multistory buildings.

Introduction

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

CA’REDIVIVUS “Preservation of historic reinforced housing buildings in Europe”

(2005-2007), funded by the European Commission (Marie Curie Individual Fellowship)

Research on historic reinforced concrete

Fellow: architecture graduate

Scientist-in-charge: structural engineer

Preservation on the threat of natural hazards, such as earthquakes

Research on the spread of such housing types in earthquake prone areas of Europe

Earthquake resilient features and deficiencies, simulations

Criteria from the point of view of different actors such as architect, engineer, user and

investor for chosen retrofit systems and strategies

Such approach is rare

2nd fib (Federation Internationalle du Beton) Congress in 2006 in Naples

need for criteria for selecting the structures which need to be preserved, for reasons

of structural innovation, in service of architecture

The Framework of the CA’REDIVIVUS Project and European Context

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

Frampton (1996) “…any review of modern construction culture must recognize the

crucial role played by structural engineering…” – tectonics

seismic retrofit performed together with rehabilitation

Greece

Not the blocks of flats

Army Pension Fund, architects Vassilios Kassandras and Leonidas Bonis (1939)

Only interwar building listed under monument protection in Athens

Revival as CityLink undertaken by the Piraeus Bank, architect Stelios Aghistratitis

For the seismic retrofit a combination of traditional and innovative methods was

employed: Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRP) for slabs and beams and concrete

jacketing for the columns. Also reinforced concrete structural walls were added.

Hotel Erminio (1933), Kozani, monument protected

designed by the German engineer Max Ruthven, who also designed buildings in Nice,

buildings with which the hotel presents common architecture features

Damaged in 1995 so not to be further used

Retrofit: combination of traditional concrete jacketing for the vertical load bearing

elements with FRP for the horizontal road bearing elements

Review of Practical Approaches for the Conservation of Reinforced

Concrete Heritage

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

Germany

interventions on 20th century heritage are being done since the 1980s

-Scharoun. Haus Schminke

-Gropius Meisterhaus Muche/Schlemmer

-buildings in the Weißenhof Siedlung by Mies van der Rohe

-Coupled house, Weissenhof, Stuttgart. Architect: Le Corbusier (mix steel-concrete)

-Einstein Tower, Potsdam, architect Erich Mendelsohn (1919-21)

reinforced concrete, the material per choice for the form thought by the architect, was

employed only limitedly way for economic reasons

Dammerstock and Weissenhof, steel skeleton preponderent for multistorey housing

Steel played a different role in the economic development of Germany than concrete

Hungary

Building on Népszinház street, Budapest. Architect: Béla Lajta (1911)

Brick, despite the architecture history interpretation that this is a form suitable for

reinforced concrete

The presence of this somehow “ruin” of WWII permits such an analysis of the

construction materials through Rapid Visual Screening – the state preserved is the

postwar one, although ruins by catastrophes, different of those given by aging, as is

the case of those presented in the German books, tend to be ruins of the moment:

created in a moment and then disposed or renovated, to erase that traumatic memory.

Review of Practical Approaches for the Conservation of Reinforced

Concrete Heritage

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

seismic retrofit performed together with rehabilitation

Italy

2nd fib (Federation Internationalle du Beton) Congress in 2006 in Naples

Mostra d’Oltremare

Left without proper maintenance

Tower of Nations, architect: Venturino Venturi (1938)

A Modernist building featuring impressive interior spaces with half-level difference

between the floors in the two sides

retrofit based on carbon FRP was proposed

Research on criteria

-Bostenaru

-Cristiana Chiorino

Porcheddu society

Planned Conservation conference in Como

Ivrea

Olivetti

International School

Review of Practical Approaches for the Conservation of Reinforced

Concrete Heritage

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

AFP building in Athens (1939). Photo courtesy of Gregory Penelis

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

Rehabilitated buildings in Germany (a) buildings in the Weißenhof Siedlung

by Mies van der Rohe (b) buildings by Otto Haessler at Dammerstock

Siedlung, Karlsruhe Photos: M. Bostenaru, 2002

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

Rehabilitated buildings in Germany Einstein Tower, Postdam. Architect:

Erich Mendelsohn; (d) Coupled house, Weissenhof, Stuttgart. Architect: Le

Corbusier. Photos: M. Bostenaru, 2002

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

Poetics of reinforced concrete: Building on Népszinház street, Budapest.

Architect: Béla Lajta (1911). Photo: M. Bostenaru, 1998

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

Mostra d’Oltremare, Napoli, Italy. Location of the 2nd fib Congress. Photo:

M. Bostenaru, 2006

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

Torre delle Nazioni, Napoli, Italy. Arch: Venturino Venturi (1938). Photos: M.

Bostenaru, 2006

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

High-rise buildings with more than 5 floors are highly vulnerable to Vrancea

earthquakes

“red-dot” programme (marking most vulnerable buildings)

Henrietta Delavrancea-Gibory exhibition

Demolition of building

Modernism and tradition, similar to villas in Balchik, Bulgaria

Case is not singular

Misuse of the “red-dot” programme for speculation

Multi-storey blocks of flats more sustainable in terms of contemporary urbanism –

see Sonne (2009)

Application in the Romanian Context

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

High rise buildings vulnerable to earthquakes in Bucharest, Romania. (a)

“Naum Ghica” building. Architect: Marcel Janco (1938); (b) “Pherekyde”

block of flats. Architect: Tiberiu Niga (1936); (c) “Simu” building, partially

rebuilt (left part) after the 1977 earthquake. Photos: M. Bostenaru, 2002

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

“Prager” villa, Bucharest. Arch: H. Delavrancea-Gibory (1936). Photos: M.

Bostenaru, 2009

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

Rebuilding the corner

Different floor layout, different zoning

PIANO project

Some buildings with proper reinforced concrete design resisted well in Vrancea

earthquakes

Application in the Romanian Context

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

Vulnerable corner buildings in Bucharest: (a) “Turist” (formerly “Palladio”,

which also lost in height) (b) “Wilson” building. Architect: State Balosin

(1934-36), recently re-retrofitted, first retrofit “Proiect Bucureşti”

(http://www.pb.ro/ro/proiecte/reabilitari/ ). Photos: M. Bostenaru, 2002

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

From the case studies across Europe lessons can be learned for application in

Romania

-Greek models – similar earthquake hazard conditions

-Italian models – similar materials

-German models – solving conflicts between the actors (in Romania unilateral choice,

without the architect; mainly economic reasons)

Sonne (2009) research on regional characteristics and distribution of multi-storey

buildings in Western civilisation

Romania and Greece are missing, although related to Milanese Novecento

Romania and Greece

Architectural typology from France

Structure computation models from Germany

Both not earthquake prone

Today in France: “Urban System Exposure” method

Discussion

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

Interwar time – one of experiments

Buildings are not so well conserved today

Germany: aging

Romania, Greece, Italy: seismic threat

Difference in ruins of aging and those of natural hazards

The architectural restoration must be integrated with architectural conservation in

order to obtain an optimal result.

To be investigated is the role tradition plays, not only in combination with Modernist

theories, or seismic culture, but also in order to sustain preservation of heritage

against speculative development.

Romania and Greece – “other Modernisms”

Instead of Avant-Garde the sustainable block of flats of Sonne (2009)

Conclusion

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru

The financial support of the European Commission, in form of a Marie Curie

Reintegration Grants, for the project PIANO “The innovation in the plan of the current

floor: Zoning in blocks of flats for the middle class in the first half of the 20th

century”, grant agreement MERG-CT-2007-200636, at the host institution Foundation

ERGOROM ’99, are gratefully acknowledged.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

Acknowledgements

Preservation of historical concrete structures

Maria Bostenaru