Reusing the abandoned Industrial Heritage for new functions: chance for a social and cultural valorization

The reusing of the abandoned Industrial Heritage is a great chance to realise a sustainable development for the district and the town that host it. In this age, in which “urban regeneration” and “sustainable development” are some of the most important topic, the intervention to re-qualify and to reuse the abandoned industrial areas, inserting new functions able to satisfy the contemporary society’s needs, represents a chance to save ground from new buildings and, at the same time to produce new opportunities for the local social, economic and cultural development. This paper illustrates the project to reuse and re-qualify the Taller de Herreria of the Maestranza Central di San Bernardo in Chile as public library, developed as final project of the Master in Building Engineering – Architecture of the University of Pavia, designed with the collaboration of the Universidad Central de Chile. The project is the result of a relevant analysis and a deep synthesis about both the topic of the valorisation of the abandoned industrial heritage and the meaning of the libraries in the contemporary society; it is designed a solution that valorises the existing building, its great volumetric dimension and the rhythm of the structural arcade. The soul of the project is the “cultural path” that leads to discover the contents (the library, the studying areas and the reading areas) and the building (Taller de Herreria and its volume); the visitors move in a volume that offers new perspective and partial view till a big underground space, where new functions are located in spaces that do not damage the majestic original image.