Reusing the abandoned Industrial Heritage for cultural aim: chance for a sustainable valorization.

The intervention on the abandoned Industrial Heritage represents a must for a society oriented to a sustainable development and that wants to valorise her past without delete it. In the last 30 years we are witnessing a lots of Industrial buildings that are reused to host new functions, different from the ones that made them set up: Lingotto in Turin (Italy) and the Culturpark Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam (Holland) are some of the most famous examples of this trend, able to create great results not only from a technological point of view but also from a social and cultural point of view. This paper illustrates a project to reuse and re-qualify the Padiglione de la Caldereria of the Maestranza Central di San Bernardo in Chile as social and sportive centre, developed as final project of the Master in Building Engineering – Architecture of the University of Pavia, developed with the collaboration of the Universidad Central de Chile. The project is the result of a relevant analysis and a deep synthesis about the topic of the valorisation of the abandoned industrial heritage; it is based on the need of the nowadays society (every day more complex and varied) to find new spaces and buildings where it is possible to share experiences and culture, where to play and where the different souls and interests can be represented and valorised, helping the youth to grow up and express. The project wants to realize a meeting place for the inclusion of all the different culture living in San Bernardo; a big “box”, with its maintained unchanged shell, for playing with some small boxes for different activities, a place where new architectural solutions give a new life to an old structure. In the following page it is possible to see the project section and a photo of the building as it is now.