Situated in the historical centre of L’Aquila, at the intersection of Via Cimino and Costa Masciarelli, Palazzo Alfieri Galli was heavily damaged by the 2009 earthquake. The L-shape of the complex reflects the model of the double palazzo wrapping a main courtyard, accessed via the more imposing of two monumental portals. The project explores the details of questions linked to seismic retrofitting and architectural design, focusing on the restoration of the exterior elevations, the reintegration of missing elements caused by collapses and the reconfiguration of specific nodes left unresolved by successive transformations made throughout the years.
Key among these themes of reintegration is the external balcony of the secondary courtyard,
where it was necessary to substitute a collapsed bay. This was resolved by a series of lightweight plates in corten steel (exposed solely on the underside and concealed on the top and internal face). In the main courtyard projecting volumes were substituted and improvements made to the loggia of the piano nobile. In the south-east corner, a volume added during the mid-1900s interrupts the third and final arch of the loggia. The arch was infilled and opened toward the courtyard in the form of a window framed by a cornice. This ‘clash’ is generated by the total incompatibility between the geometries of these two architectural elements, penalising the harmony of rhythms of the precious colonnade and the two orders from the sixteenth century. The project began with the need to remove and substitute the existing structure – unsound and improperly constructed –paralleled with the desire to resolve the coexistence between the loggia and the nearby suspended volume. The new construction features a flat roof and a steel structure whose geometries reference the construction’s vaulted floors. On the courtyard side, this volume is cut by a C-shaped incision that extends the line of the floor marker of the loggia, which transforms from a projecting to an excavated element. This horizontal sign produces a slight offset between the two levels, with a setback of the lower part conceived as a new portion of the parapet.
