“Famous” construction errors
The history of architecture gives us numerous examples of construction errors. Some have perpetuated in the absence of technical and scientific knowledge, such as rising damp in walls in the absence of correct separation from the ground, others due to a poor evaluation of the geological characteristics, as happened with the construction of the Tower of Pisa, which did not take into account the poor stability of the ground.
In other cases, in more recent times, it was a question of design superficiality or carelessness in the execution, such as in Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye, from 1931, which, over time, suffered from serious damage from infiltrations of meteoric water diffused from the roof, due to a lack of attention in the execution of the waterproofing, as well as from the strip windows, which led to a constant presence of humidity, with the formation of mold inside the house. Also by Le Corbusier, as by many other masters of the Modern Movement, are the reinforced concrete constructions, with simple glass windows, which determined critical living conditions, in the absence of air conditioning systems, or the various calculation defects of the static structures and the lack of knowledge of the physical-mechanical characteristics of the materials, which led to the formation of cracks, surface deterioration and exposure of the reinforcing bars in sight.
Emblematic are the construction defects of the Bauhaus in Dessau, a 1926 work by Walter Gropius, which suffered from meteoric infiltrations from the roof and windows, with condensation problems also due to poor thermal resistance of the casing. Not least were the various problems of the famous Fallingwater or “House on the Waterfall”, built between 1936 and 1939 – perhaps the most famous work by FL Wright, and a UNESCO heritage site since 2019 – on the execution of which the architect probably reflected and wrote the famous aphorism mentioned above. In this work there were problems both during and after execution, due to an incorrect consideration of the thicknesses of the armor structures of the overhanging balconies, which led to structural failure after the removal of the formwork, with the lowering of the overhang by approximately 18 cm, which made structural reinforcement necessary, carried out in the 1990s. The entire building also suffered significant water infiltrations both from the flat roof, which poorly discharged the rain, and from the waterfall beneath the building, leading to the deterioration of the floors and wooden frames of the windows, and making the house practically almost unlivable, which, after only 25 years, was donated by the owner Kaufmann family to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
More recently, we remember the conceptual error of the Walkie Talkie Building in London (20 Fenchurch Street) by architect Rafael Viñoly Beceiro, a 34-storey building, 160 meters high, built in 2014, whose curved glass façade, in particular sunny conditions, directed sunlight, concentrating it in specific areas where, due to the high temperature, the melting of the plastic parts of parked cars struck by the sun’s rays occurred. Aside from reimbursing the damage caused, the owners of the building were forced to resort to the installation of special corrective solar shading.
Do you learn by making mistakes?
Mistakes of this nature, excluding those of a distant past where technical-scientific knowledge was still distant, are highlighted when the aesthetic consideration of the project prevails over functionality and safety and when a direction of work is followed with a certain superficiality, leaving the resolution of problems to the workers, as often happens.
We can only learn from the mistakes of the past to do better. Unfortunately, many errors pursued and often reiterated have not been made known to us, except for the most striking ones, such as the various examples cited previously, but always highlighted posthumously. In fact, it is difficult to find those who make mistakes and admit their mistakes, and history has taught us that construction problems have always been tried to hide, just like in Wright’s aphorism.
No university has taught the errors of design and execution and how to avoid them, leaving the brave task of the new architect to learn about them through his own experimentation, and therefore through his own mistakes, to post-graduate practical experience.
The role of the Building Pathologist and the importance of specific training
In this context the profession of the Building Pathologist was born, a technical figure who moves in multidisciplinary fields of action and which involve a holistic knowledge of the problems inherent to incorrect technical-construction applications, as well as, as Marco Argiolas – founder of the Building Pathologists Association – saysthe identification of the causes that may have determined the observable effects, in order to guarantee an investigation independent of prejudice“Building pathology, in the same way as medical diagnosis, can therefore be considered the identification of the symptoms that have generated a construction “malaise”, to prevent possible or obvious damage and defects and act accordingly with remedies to cure the problem or problems.
Given the multidisciplinarity, especially in the presence of various construction defects or co-causes, which is not uncommon, it is not always possible to reach a diagnosis and treatment by a single expert, but it is often necessary to make use of the contribution of several expert figures in specific fields, where however everyone must be equipped with a multidisciplinary basic knowledge, with which they can open a dialogue of joint technical comparison, understandable by all the subjects involved.
This is the role that Assopatologi Edili plays, as a multidisciplinary study centre, in which experts in specific fields participate, but, at the same time, equipped with multiple and varied experiences, capable of generating a univocal response, but shared from multiple points of view, where the analysis of a particular problem occurs.
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