Proposal of a Methodological Universal Guide to (Re)discover the Heritage: Palazzo Gastaldi-Lavagna

This paper analyzes the theme of the knowledge project as an element guide of the restoration project. In view of the constant evolution of technologies related to diagnostics (in the laboratory and in situ), the research exposes the importance of a comprehensive acquisition of preliminary information as a project design phase tool, in order to solve doubts, verify hypotheses preventing the timeline and control economical aspects during the construction phase. The case study analyzes the restoration of an eighteenth-century apartment in a noble palace of Imperia City that has been neglected for years. From a first phase of analysis and knowledge, the project action sought to integrate contemporary needs with the historical features, in respect of the existing and its conservation. The proposed intervention aims to show how the survey of the building (geometric, material and decorative) combined with the investigations on the existing unit (archival, historical-architectural, technical-constructive and geological-petrographic) and the diagnosis of the pathological picture are necessary knowledge to guide and control actions of the final phase of the project.