Accessibility of historical students’ accomodations: methods and solution

Historical buildings were built without any kind of attention for persons with disabilities, but nowadays they are still used for a society where there is a new consideration for them, as demonstrated by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (written in December 2006 and adopted in Italy with the National Law n. 18 in 2009). The architects and engineers have a new task: to improve the accessibility to historical places and cultural heritage. In February, 2013 “Collegio Cairoli” (a students’ accommodation of the University of Pavia) and EDiSU decided to improve the accessibility of the building, inserting a new lifting platform. The construction was realized in 1781 in the downtown of Pavia, near the University. It is a students’ accommodation since 1948 and it houses also visiting professors. The area chosen for the platform is near the old church in the south – east side of the building, in a place with three differences in level. The lifting platform has to link the ground floor with the first floor (where the are some common spaces). The project (realized in January 2014) was developed following the idea to preserve the original character of the building (limiting the intervention on the walls, both demolition and new construction) and to ensure the complete reversibility.