Books by Silvia Cutarelli
Artemide, 2020
Il volume raccoglie le ricerche presentate nei seminari organizzati fra il 2017 e il 2019 presso ... more Il volume raccoglie le ricerche presentate nei seminari organizzati fra il 2017 e il 2019 presso il Dottorato in Storia, Disegno e Restauro dell’Architettura di ‘Sapienza’ Università di Roma e ripercorre le tematiche approfondite nel corso di undici sessioni, relative a connotazioni e attributi dell’architettura (Proporzione, forma e struttura;
Architettura, forma e funzione; Compiuto e incompiuto in architettura), contesti cronologici specifici (Novecento: progetto e cantiere; Architettura romana fra centro e periferia dell’Impero), dialettica teoretica endogena o esogena (Architettura e città; Architettura e arti visive), argomenti di dibattito attuali (Rappresentazione, costruzione e
trasformazione della città; Superfici: materia e immagine; Architettura e concorsi; Effimero – e immateriale – in architettura).
Le singole sezioni sono costituite da saggi afferenti ai settori scientifici della storia, del disegno, del restauro e della progettazione architettonica; sono inoltre concluse da riflessioni sintetiche, che sottolineano i nessi fra ricerche eterogenee per argomenti, approcci, metodi e finalità allo scopo di evidenziare le intersezioni disciplinari fra i
contributi e favorire, più in generale, una positiva contaminazione tra ambiti distinti in relazione a temi comuni.
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Quasar, 2019
Radicato sull’altura più piccola dell’Aventino, il complesso di S. Saba è costituito dalla basili... more Radicato sull’altura più piccola dell’Aventino, il complesso di S. Saba è costituito dalla basilica e dagli edifici annessi, realizzati sulle strutture superstiti di una residenza tardoantica e di un monastero altomedievale. La continuità d’uso del sito è stata condizionata dalla consacrazione del luogo di culto e ha veicolato, nel tempo, la conversione dell’insediamento a destinazioni molteplici, legate ai mutamenti del contesto urbano circostante e saldate a trasformazioni graduali o radicali, testimoniate dalla stratificazione dei palinsesti murari. La ricerca presentata in questo volume ripercorre le vicende architettoniche di un processo secolare, indagate tramite la lettura diretta delle fabbriche, l’analisi documentaria e l’approfondimento degli eventi più significativi, inquadrati in un più ampio panorama storico e geografico. La conoscenza delle dinamiche precipue del complesso aventinese, connotate da iniziative edilizie sovente parziali e individualmente qualificate, ma talora disorganiche, contraddittorie o anche lesive dell’integrità materica delle preesistenze, costituisce la necessaria premessa per definire la realtà attuale del monumento e prefigurare le strategie d’indirizzo relative a un possibile assetto futuro.
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Archeomatica, X, 3, 2019
The sharing of information during emergencies due to natural disasters is essential to ensure tim... more The sharing of information during emergencies due to natural disasters is essential to ensure timeliness in safeguarding the cultural heritage. Carta del Rischio, a geographic information system developed by ISCR, has been engineered in the 1990’s to record data on the historic buildings vulnerability and plan any preventive works. During the seismic emergency declared in 2016 in a wide territory among Latium, Abruzzo and Marche and still ongoing, it was also used to manage data about recovery, transfer and intervention on the artworks removed from the hit areas. Its use helps to clarify the origin of the goods taken from the ruins over time and to avoid accidental scattering; it also allows the monitoring of artefacts stored in warehouses and of conservation activities within the laboratories.
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Costruire in Laterizio, XXXII, 179, 2019
According to Herzog & de Meuron approach, intervention on historic fabric produces potentially a ... more According to Herzog & de Meuron approach, intervention on historic fabric produces potentially a new construction that draws energy from the existing buildings, whose role proves to be subordinated to the project issues and requirements. Such an approach has been referred, by the architects themselves, to an interesting comparison to the Aikido martial art strategy. The goal is not to attack but to use the enemy’s energy to reach the own aim. Conservation assumptions are actually completely overturned as the aim is not addressed to protect the existing building, recognizing its own value, but rather to exploit its features to enrich the new construction. The creative process moves from an attentive investigation of the expressive qualities of the existing building which is finalized to transfer them by a symbiotic and not dialectic relationship. Elements of the old buildings move to the new one to strengthen its expressive power. At the different architectural scales, the project is based on the concept that matter drawn away from its natural context gains a new expressive force. Although the architects intention is to draw ‘energy’ from the existing building to boost up the new building, the method which is carried on enhances an interesting process, which triggers from an in deep analysis phase and allows to ‘listen’ and ‘understand’ the exiting building secrets, so that they can be told by the new creation. The result is that when the historical context is considered enough powerful from the expressive point of view, Herzog and De Meuron architecture proves to follow a kind of codex suggested by the context itself. Actually achieving a result, which gets very close to conservation.
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ArcHistoR, V, 9, 2018
The hypogeum of St. Saba in Rome, found in the area of the medieval basilica in March 1900, is a ... more The hypogeum of St. Saba in Rome, found in the area of the medieval basilica in March 1900, is a relevant example of late-Roman buildings transformation into religious spaces (late 6th - early 7th centuries). At the same time, it represents an explicative case to illustrate the links between different investigative approaches, coming from archaeological,
historical-artistic and historical-architectural point of view. In fact, since the excavation undertaken by the Associazione Artistica fra i Cultori di Architettura, the historiographical debate on the apsidal hall has been nourished by numerous scholars who have attempted to interpret the surviving remains in order to reconstruct the primitive events of the place of worship. Historical architecture cognitive process is articulated through different methods of investigation, each time calibrated according to both the characteristics of the pre-existence and the problems of knowledge. In the case of St. Saba, the results of the excavations of the early twentieth century have been compromised by the interventions carried out during the works, the fragmentary nature of the surviving remains and the limited extension of the investigation. The following studies – relating to historical sources, typological characteristics, constructive aspects and the decorative apparatus of the factory – partly integrated the incomplete data, re-elaborating, from an interpretative point of view, the theses formulated at the beginning of the last century. However, some unanswered questions remain, partly related to the architectural events of the building; integrating the results of different disciplinary contributions, the surveys conducted on visual surfaces make it possible to restore the peculiarities of the primitive space and its transformations.
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Costruire in Laterizio, XXX, 173, 2017
This paper moves from a Phd thesis, focussing on the transformation process of Saint Saba complex... more This paper moves from a Phd thesis, focussing on the transformation process of Saint Saba complex in Rome and on its protection and conservation issues. Within the research, an important role has been played by masonries direct analysis. Saint Saba masonries are mostly made of brick and have been investigated through features identification, wall distribution and stratigraphic relations. Moreover, direct observations results have been merged with archival sources, survey data, geometrical and proportional considerations. To complete the study, also architectural features have been taken into account. A further attention has lightened specific values related to materials that constitute masonries. These values mainly refer to the different functions that, either the single buildings or the whole complex, have been assuming through time.
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RICerca/REStauro: Sezione 6. Ricerca in-formazione, coordinamento di D. Fiorani, a cura di M.P. Sette, F. Mariano, E. Vassallo, Quasar, Roma, 2017
The aim of this research was to examine the links between history, conservation projects and prac... more The aim of this research was to examine the links between history, conservation projects and practices
as regards the recent conservation work and improvements carried out on a specific case study: the
historic monastic complex of San Saba in the Piccolo Aventino area of Rome.
In the early twentieth century, the excavation and restoration work undertaken by the Associazione
Artistica fra i Cultori di Architettura radically changed our perception of this ancient monastery,
considered a prime example of medieval art and architecture from that moment on. However, in
the years that followed, conservation work was only carried out on the basilica, while the adjoining
buildings were subjected to demolitions and enlargement work. The religious complex gradually developed
an obvious dichotomy between its monumental nature and parish needs, which remained
unaddressed in the 1930s.
Thanks to the examination of this monument’s evolution over time, restoration work and the recent
improvements made to the San Saba complex, we can now picture – thanks to our historical knowledge
– the preconditions and outcomes of the renovation process so as to recognise the significance
of such a multi-faceted monument. At the same time, identifying the building’s current values and
problems is necessary if we want to understand it better and delve deeper into the diagnostic field;
moreover, this study method helps us define theoretical and planning trends.
Thus, by linking a thorough historical knowledge of a building with planning intentions, we trigger a
virtuous cycle that exemplifies the underlying principle of restoration research.
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Papers by Silvia Cutarelli
Építés – Építészettudomány , 2020
The use of digital technologies to study architecture and landscape has begun to represent an inn... more The use of digital technologies to study architecture and landscape has begun to represent an innovative aspect of the research when it started to allow the dynamic association (as input and output) of images and alphanumeric data: the different combination of this information through inferences and algorithms and the consequent generation of new data has freed digitisation from a strictly instrumental role making it a new methodological approach in itself. As a matter of fact, recently architectural research has begun to take an interest in the problem 'from within', working not only on the application of computer tools but, more consciously, on their configuration. The work carried out by the Sapienza research group is aimed at developing ontologies and inferential models specifically dedicated to the representation of historical buildings and is devoted to the implementation of a national GIS platform for the historical centres, the Risk Map of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism. This kind of work involves a series of methodological issues specially oriented to the definition of the role of the history of architecture in itself and its use for the conservation project. These arguments are developed within this essay, mainly focused on: type and quality of information deriving by the new procedures; interpretative components that fuel the new research methods; cost/benefit ratio in the use of 'analogue' and 'digital' approaches; future prospects of the two different (traditional and digital) investigative strategies. Moreover, both of the fields of digital research developed by the group (ontology and Risk Map) are here summarised.
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"Materiali e Strutture. Problemi di conservazione", 2019
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Books by Silvia Cutarelli
Architettura, forma e funzione; Compiuto e incompiuto in architettura), contesti cronologici specifici (Novecento: progetto e cantiere; Architettura romana fra centro e periferia dell’Impero), dialettica teoretica endogena o esogena (Architettura e città; Architettura e arti visive), argomenti di dibattito attuali (Rappresentazione, costruzione e
trasformazione della città; Superfici: materia e immagine; Architettura e concorsi; Effimero – e immateriale – in architettura).
Le singole sezioni sono costituite da saggi afferenti ai settori scientifici della storia, del disegno, del restauro e della progettazione architettonica; sono inoltre concluse da riflessioni sintetiche, che sottolineano i nessi fra ricerche eterogenee per argomenti, approcci, metodi e finalità allo scopo di evidenziare le intersezioni disciplinari fra i
contributi e favorire, più in generale, una positiva contaminazione tra ambiti distinti in relazione a temi comuni.
historical-artistic and historical-architectural point of view. In fact, since the excavation undertaken by the Associazione Artistica fra i Cultori di Architettura, the historiographical debate on the apsidal hall has been nourished by numerous scholars who have attempted to interpret the surviving remains in order to reconstruct the primitive events of the place of worship. Historical architecture cognitive process is articulated through different methods of investigation, each time calibrated according to both the characteristics of the pre-existence and the problems of knowledge. In the case of St. Saba, the results of the excavations of the early twentieth century have been compromised by the interventions carried out during the works, the fragmentary nature of the surviving remains and the limited extension of the investigation. The following studies – relating to historical sources, typological characteristics, constructive aspects and the decorative apparatus of the factory – partly integrated the incomplete data, re-elaborating, from an interpretative point of view, the theses formulated at the beginning of the last century. However, some unanswered questions remain, partly related to the architectural events of the building; integrating the results of different disciplinary contributions, the surveys conducted on visual surfaces make it possible to restore the peculiarities of the primitive space and its transformations.
as regards the recent conservation work and improvements carried out on a specific case study: the
historic monastic complex of San Saba in the Piccolo Aventino area of Rome.
In the early twentieth century, the excavation and restoration work undertaken by the Associazione
Artistica fra i Cultori di Architettura radically changed our perception of this ancient monastery,
considered a prime example of medieval art and architecture from that moment on. However, in
the years that followed, conservation work was only carried out on the basilica, while the adjoining
buildings were subjected to demolitions and enlargement work. The religious complex gradually developed
an obvious dichotomy between its monumental nature and parish needs, which remained
unaddressed in the 1930s.
Thanks to the examination of this monument’s evolution over time, restoration work and the recent
improvements made to the San Saba complex, we can now picture – thanks to our historical knowledge
– the preconditions and outcomes of the renovation process so as to recognise the significance
of such a multi-faceted monument. At the same time, identifying the building’s current values and
problems is necessary if we want to understand it better and delve deeper into the diagnostic field;
moreover, this study method helps us define theoretical and planning trends.
Thus, by linking a thorough historical knowledge of a building with planning intentions, we trigger a
virtuous cycle that exemplifies the underlying principle of restoration research.
Papers by Silvia Cutarelli
Architettura, forma e funzione; Compiuto e incompiuto in architettura), contesti cronologici specifici (Novecento: progetto e cantiere; Architettura romana fra centro e periferia dell’Impero), dialettica teoretica endogena o esogena (Architettura e città; Architettura e arti visive), argomenti di dibattito attuali (Rappresentazione, costruzione e
trasformazione della città; Superfici: materia e immagine; Architettura e concorsi; Effimero – e immateriale – in architettura).
Le singole sezioni sono costituite da saggi afferenti ai settori scientifici della storia, del disegno, del restauro e della progettazione architettonica; sono inoltre concluse da riflessioni sintetiche, che sottolineano i nessi fra ricerche eterogenee per argomenti, approcci, metodi e finalità allo scopo di evidenziare le intersezioni disciplinari fra i
contributi e favorire, più in generale, una positiva contaminazione tra ambiti distinti in relazione a temi comuni.
historical-artistic and historical-architectural point of view. In fact, since the excavation undertaken by the Associazione Artistica fra i Cultori di Architettura, the historiographical debate on the apsidal hall has been nourished by numerous scholars who have attempted to interpret the surviving remains in order to reconstruct the primitive events of the place of worship. Historical architecture cognitive process is articulated through different methods of investigation, each time calibrated according to both the characteristics of the pre-existence and the problems of knowledge. In the case of St. Saba, the results of the excavations of the early twentieth century have been compromised by the interventions carried out during the works, the fragmentary nature of the surviving remains and the limited extension of the investigation. The following studies – relating to historical sources, typological characteristics, constructive aspects and the decorative apparatus of the factory – partly integrated the incomplete data, re-elaborating, from an interpretative point of view, the theses formulated at the beginning of the last century. However, some unanswered questions remain, partly related to the architectural events of the building; integrating the results of different disciplinary contributions, the surveys conducted on visual surfaces make it possible to restore the peculiarities of the primitive space and its transformations.
as regards the recent conservation work and improvements carried out on a specific case study: the
historic monastic complex of San Saba in the Piccolo Aventino area of Rome.
In the early twentieth century, the excavation and restoration work undertaken by the Associazione
Artistica fra i Cultori di Architettura radically changed our perception of this ancient monastery,
considered a prime example of medieval art and architecture from that moment on. However, in
the years that followed, conservation work was only carried out on the basilica, while the adjoining
buildings were subjected to demolitions and enlargement work. The religious complex gradually developed
an obvious dichotomy between its monumental nature and parish needs, which remained
unaddressed in the 1930s.
Thanks to the examination of this monument’s evolution over time, restoration work and the recent
improvements made to the San Saba complex, we can now picture – thanks to our historical knowledge
– the preconditions and outcomes of the renovation process so as to recognise the significance
of such a multi-faceted monument. At the same time, identifying the building’s current values and
problems is necessary if we want to understand it better and delve deeper into the diagnostic field;
moreover, this study method helps us define theoretical and planning trends.
Thus, by linking a thorough historical knowledge of a building with planning intentions, we trigger a
virtuous cycle that exemplifies the underlying principle of restoration research.