Clara Bertolini Cestari

• Polytechnic University of Turin

The collection of general and metric information is significant in assessing existing structures for the purpose of inventory of historical constructions, preservation and retrofitting interventions, territorial or building vulnerability evaluation. Adequate knowledge of the structure, to be acquired through documentation, as well as on-site inspec...

The paper presents a significant case study: the Church of San Giovanni Battista in Salbertrand dates back to the 16th century and constitutes one of the most interesting examples of religious architecture in the Susa Valley of the western Italian Alps. Its historic timber roof structure was once at risk of demolition, but in 2000 finally became th...

In the architectural and cultural heritage of the Arsenale of Venice, the authors have worked on several interventions for diagnosis and recovery of roofs, foundations and floors of the so-called “woods of Venice”. The work refers to the complex of the “Sale d’Armi” located in the central area of the Arsenale, currently used as exhibition space for...

This chapter presents an overview of recent technological innovations in nanocomposite materials for protection and reinforcement of timber in construction. Starting from the definition of nanotechnologies applied in the field of construction and architectural heritage, the chapter briefly describes nano-materials available in the market. The role...

The Sanctuary "Beata Vergine Maria del Monte Carmelo" in Colletto, Pinerolo, Italy, is an outstanding renaissance architectural complex located in high hills region nearby Turin, Italy. The church is well known both for its architectural relevance and for the artistic value of the paintings and statues. In addition, thanks to the optimal acoustic p...

In the context of our architectural heritage, timber structures represent an important sector in terms of historical relevance, architectural technology and construction materials. Roof structures constitute an integral part of the architectural complex in which they are located and should be treated with the same attention and respect due to their...

This article illustrates a wide multidisciplinary project carried out as part of recent restoration works of the great timber roof of Porta Nuova Railway Station in Turin (Italy). The station was built in 1861 (project by A. Mazzucchetti and A. Castigliano), when Turin was the first capital of Italy. In recent years, the roof needed important maint...

In the context of our architectural heritage, timber structures represent an important sector in terms of historical relevance, architectural technology, and construction materials. In the past, these structures did not receive much attention in terms of conservation: they were frequently subject to inappropriate interventions or demolitions. Roof...

The present paper illustrates a wide interdisciplinary project carried out in the frame of the restoration works of timber roof of Porta Nuova Railway Station in Torino (Italy). Torino, in 1861, was the first capital of the just unified Reign of Italy. In the same year, Eng. A. Mazzuchetti was in charge to design the railway station of Porta Nuova...

The paper describes an activity conducted by a multi-disciplinary research group (architecture, civil engineering, technology, geomatics) for the mechanical evaluation of a timber floor belonging to a historic residential building located in the city center of Torino. The floor was made of beams of solid wood and wooden boards and presented a mid-s...

The paper analyses a reinforcement intervention conceived by one of the authors (C. Bertolini) and performed on the historical timber roof structure of the Valentino Castle in Torino (Italy) some thirty years ago. The timber roof of the towers, dating back to 17th century, is a three-dimensional frame structure with a height of about 12 m. In the t...

The paper describes an activity conducted by a multidisciplinary research group (architecture, civil engineering, technology, geomatics) for the mechanical evaluation of a timber floor belonging to a historic residential building located in the city center of Torino. The floor was made of trusses of solid wood and wooden boards and presented a mid...

The paper analyzes a series of reinforcement interventions performed on the historical timber roof structure of the Valentino Castle in Torino (Italy) some thirty years ago. It is not very common to be able to assess the durability of interventions without relying to accelerated ageing test. In this case a real structure is considered, which was co...

: The former clinker warehouse, also known as the "Paraboloide" of Casale is an architectural symbol of the concrete Italian industrial heritage. The constructive technology and the structural shape of the thin concrete vault are comparable to the outstanding realizations achievements of the beginning of the XXth century, as for examples the works...

The paper describes an experimental research activity on the application of a polymeric resin reinforced with carbon nanotubes on an ancient timber structures belonging to cultural heritage (Bertolini Cestari et al. in Proc. of SAHC2008. VI International Conference, pp. 941–947, 2008; Marzi in Ph.D. Thesis, 2010; Bertolini Cestari et al. in Proc. o...

Nowadays, there is an increasing demand for detailed geometrical representation of the existing cultural heritage, in particular to improve the comprehension of interactions between different phenomena and to allow a better decisional and planning process. The LiDAR technology (Light Detection and Ranging) can be adopted in different fields, rangin...

Torino, in 1861, was the first capital of the just unified Reign of Italy. In the same year, Eng. A. Mazzucchetti was charged for the design of the railway station of Porta Nuova in Torino, in correspondence of the arrival of the railway connecting Genova. The original conception resembles the bilateral scheme of the King Cross station in London, w...

The main room of the Valentino Castle in Torino, the “Salone delle Feste”, was conceived and realised in the XVIIth century under the guidance of Carlo di Castellamonte. The beautiful frescos and stuccoes of the domical vault are sustained by a typical Delorne carpentry, whose span is among the largest of their kind. The dome suffered from degradat...

The Ebe schooner-brig was built in 1921 and sailed the Mediterranean Sea for almost 40 years before being dissected into 90 parts to be transported to Milan (Italy). There, the schooner was reassembled, and the naval pavilion of the National Museum of Science and Technology was built around the ship. After 45 years in the museum, the ship presents...

This paper reports on the new COST Action FP1101 " Assessment, Reinforcement and Monitoring of Timber Structures ". The objective of the Action is to increase confidence of designers, authorities and end-users in use of timber in the design of new and in the repair of old structures by developing and disseminating assessment, reinforcement and moni...

The main room of the Valentino Castle in Torino, the “Salone delle Feste”, was conceived and realised in the XVIIth century under the guidance of Carlo di Castellamonte. The beautiful frescos and stuccoes of the domical vault are sustained by a typical Delorne carpentry, whose span is among the largest of their kind. The dome suffered from degradat...

The great timber roof structures of the Cathedral of Vercelli offer an extraordinary path of knowledge, diagnosis and conservation, through a collaboration between the architects of the Cultural Heritage Office of the Diocese of Vercelli – responsible for the restoration process – and experts in the field of timber structures. The interest of the a...

The chapter deals with a review of the international codes and standard related to the in situ evaluation of timber structures. The ISO 13822:2001 standard is the only one at international level on this field, but it’s only partially applicable to the topic, because it deals with all the building materials, not only with wood, and because the princ...

The Ebe schooner-brig was built in 1921 and sailed the Mediterranean’s sea for almost forty years, before being dissected into ninety parts to be transported in Milan (Italy). There, the schooner was reassembled and the naval pavilion of the National Museum of Science and Technology was built up all around the ship. After forty years in the museum,...

The present paper addresses to the latest technological innovations concerning nanostructured-materials, their wood surface protection functions, and describing the potential usage in the field of architecture, civil engineering and cultural heritage. The research briefly describes the existing nanomaterials, their classification and compatibility...

The great timber roof structures of the Cathedral of Vercelli offer an extraordinary path of knowledge, diagnosis and conservation, through a collaboration between the architects of the Cultural Heritage Office of the Diocese of Vercelli –– responsible for the restoration process –– and experts in the field of timber structures. The interest of the...

The great timber roof structures of the Cathedral of Vercelli offer an extraordinary path of knowledge, diagnosis and conservation, through a collaboration between the architects of the Cultural Heritage Office of the Diocese of Vercelli – responsible for the restoration process – and experts in the field of timber structures. The interest of the a...

Conservation and maintenance represent strategic fields of interest in EU for their high social/economic impact. Timber structures may present degradation phenomena, that require a special attention in the intervention on cultural architectural heritage. An integrated approach for interventions on timber structures is essential for the project, by...

The great timber roof structures of the Cathedral of Vercelli offer an extraordinary path of knowledge, diagnosis and conservation, through a collaboration between the architects of the Cultural Heritage Office of the Diocese of Vercelli – responsible for the restoration process – and experts in the field of timber structures. The interest of the a...

The paper illustrates a multidisciplinary activity involving architects, civil engineers, architecture historians, wood technologists, dendrochronologists to determine the structural of an extraordinary timber roof structure: the roof of the church of Hagia Paraskevi in Chalkida (Greece). The activity that has been carried out at international leve...

17th century stuccos located in The Valentino Castle in Turin (Northern Italy) have been studied by means of XRD, TG-DTA, Hg porosimetry and SEM coupled with EDX chemical analysis in order to understand their composition and the degradation causes. The investigated un-degraded samples were made of gypsum, hydrated lime and other carbonates phases o...

For several years innovative membranes that combine moisture barrier capability with relatively high vapor permeability have been available. However, data are lacking that quantify their performance for specific roofing systems and, in particular, those used for historic building in Italy. Therefore in the present study we have characterized the va...

The paper offers a synthetic guideline for a correct maintenance scheduling of ancient floors, not rarely present in the halls of many historical buildings as precious work of art but which are also considered as wear and tear surface frequently forgotten. Due to te lack of maintenance it is in fact not rare to find "parquets" in very bad condition...

It is very important to know better the new structural composite lumber in the perspective of a their wider spread in Italy. Therefore it has been necessary to evaluate them also with instruments set up to analyze the solid wood (widely used in our Country). We wanted to verify, at the same time, the quality and the performances of a structural com...