Z E M C H 2 0 1 2 I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e
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period to
reinforced concrete framed ones in the second period and then to the early
examples of industrialization and prefabrication in the third period.
The industrialized building techniques were introduced in Italy, and especially in Sicily,
by the use of a particular type of competitive bid, according to which the bidding
companies had to submit, in addition to the technical and economic tender bid, the
preliminary design and, if awarded, to draw up the detailed design by choosing the
construction method.
The first intervention of industrialized couffrage-tunnel building was carried out in
Palermo (Sicily) by the Ravenna Consortium of Production and Labour Cooperatives,
who won in 1972 the competitive bid for the construction of 776 GESCAL flats in the
district of Sperone-Romagnolo, published by the Social Housing Institute of Palermo
(Fig.1).
The coffrage-tunnel technique adopted by the Consortium had been imported, thanks to
an agreement of the previous year, by the construction company, SNC, in Paris. In the
building work, the Consortium involved several local cooperatives, transmitting their
technological know-how. The industrialized building techniques (couffrage-tunnels,
banches and tables, etc.) were applied later to realize cooperative housing, some
"insulae" of the district of Zen 2 and some housing complexes, in the 80s, contracted to
the Consortium or the derived following aggregations.
These construction techniques adopted especially for public housing responded to
needs related to the construction quickness and the consequent energy saving, taking
from environmental and technological quality of buildings.
Nowadays due to the poor condition of the buildings of these districts, the increasing
environmental comfort requirements and the compliance with the current energy laws, it
is necessary to think about interventions of energy recovery.
Figure 1: Photo of the buildings in the district of Sperone during the construction
The Italian legislation on energy saving in buildings
The first guidelines on the requirements of the building envelopes consist in the
"Technical Standards" of GESCAL, published in 1964, and the circular of the Ministry of
Public Works, dated 22.05.1967, No. 3151 "Criteria for the evaluation of parameters
used to represent the thermal properties, humidity, ventilation and lighting in building
constructions."
