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Venice
is made up not just of masterpieces, but
of thousands of anonymous and ancient buildings
which are the city’s housing stock.
To demonstrate that these can be restored
and made habitable to modern standards at
relatively low cost, Venice in Peril is
collaborating with the government authorities
and the Municipality on an exemplary restoration
and conversion into four flats of a publicly-owned
house in the parish of San Giobbe. The Fund
has provided the incentive for this restoration
to take place and is paying for its innovative
documentary approach: a team of architects,
some from the city’s own famous architectural
university, is recording the project in
detail and a report will be published at
the end to provide an example of good practice
which may be followed and adapted in such
future restorations.
In May 2002 Venice in Peril held an international
conference in Venice for architects, the
authorities and town planners to discuss
the restoration of historic vernacular buildings
and possible methods of making more affordable
housing available to Venetians.
The
Other Ninety Percent : Residential Vernacular
housing in Venice
A symposium held by Venice in Peril on 17
May 2002 at the Istituto Veneto, Palazzo
Loredan, Campo S. Stefano, Venice.
Speakers:
Prof. Paolo Costa, Mayor of Venice
Dott. Paolo Dezzi Bardeschi
Arch. Leo Schubert
Arch. Frank Becker
Arch. Giorgio Gianighian
Arch. Mario Piana
Prof. Wolfgang Wolters
Arch. Robert Good
Dott. Francesco Indovina
Dott. Stefano Filippi
Sig. Giampaolo Sprocati
Dickon Robinson. RIBA
Round Table Discussion:
Dott. Antonio Armellini
Dott. Arch. Giorgio Bellavitis
Tom Bloxham CBE
Arch. Sherban Cantacuzino
Arch. Carlo Cesari
Ing. Walter Gobbetto
Arch. Maurizio Bonami
Dr Richard Morrice
Arch. Gianfranco Pertot
Dr Rob Pickard
Arch. Giovanni Salmistrari
DEMOGRAPHY
HOUSING SHORTAGE, OWNERSHIP AND OCCUPANCY
PATTERNS
CONSERVATION V. TRANSFORMATION
PLANNING LAWS
THE SPECIAL LAW
THE SAN GIOBBE HOUSE
PROPOSALS AND SUGGESTIONS
PARALLEL STORIES
DEMOGRAPHY
Over the last half century, the resident
population of Venice has halved, from 120,000
in 1951 to around 60,000 in 2002. There
has been a less dramatic decline in the
number of households because over the same
period, average household size shrank from
4.9 to the present level of 2.0 persons
per household. [Good]
This trend is characterized by at least
two separate phases: during the first phase
(up to the mid-seventies) the number of
households exceeded the number of resident
units, while during the second phase, this
tendency was reversed so that the total
number of households is now less than the
total number of dwelling units. [Good]
Population decline is due to several factors:
outward expansion from an overcrowded urban
centre, changes in the quality and distribution
of dwelling units, and changes in the age
and size of households. [Good]
Venice has an ageing population. In 1981,
13% of the population was under the age
of 14, today that number is 8.8%. [Indovina]
The population of Venice is very mobile.
The strongest outflow is towards the mainland
where housing is cheaper and employment
opportunities greater. Working class, non-professional
middle classes and professionals in top
jobs form the bulk of these emigrants while
there is a very slight increase in the number
of residents from the professional middle
classes engaged in work of an intellectual
nature. This has resulted in a polarization
of Venice’s social fabric. [Indovina]
The Municipality of Venice is attempting
to halt the population decline by introducing
a number of policies designed to encourage
resident Venetians, especially young couples,
to stay in the city. A modest house building
programme has begun, despite much opposition,
in those parts of the city which were formerly
industrial. Additional student residences
have been made available for some of the
20,000 students enrolled at the University
of Venice. However, while important symbolically,
such demographic engineering is a drop in
the ocean when compared to the global and
local factors responsible for Venice’s
decline. [Costa]
HOUSING SHORTAGE,
OWNERSHIP AND OCCUPANCY PATTERNS
Venice has two populations, one resident
and the other temporary. Each year, 12,000,000
people visit Venice, 3,000,000 of whom stay
for one or more days. Many people subsequently
want to acquire a piece of Venice themselves.
The other 90%, Venice’s vernacular
housing, is the place where the very differing
needs of these two populations meet. [Costa]
Given the scale of population decline, there
should be a housing surplus. However, not
all dwelling units are available for resident
use. Only 61.7% of the total housing stock
is occupied by residents, 29.3% is associated
with non-resident use patterns, while 9%
is unoccupied. The growing presence of non-residents
results in a continuing housing deficit.
Almost a third of habitable dwellings are
occupied by holidaymakers, converting what
should be a housing surplus into a housing
deficit. [Good]
There is a significant difference, in both
the for sale and rental categories, between
what residents are able to pay for housing
and what non-residents are willing to pay
for access to the same. Demand has increased
property values by as much as eight times,
effectively pricing residents out of the
market. The weekly rental of a house in
Venice is five times the national average.
Time-share and short-term rentals have imposed
a market structure that rewards non-resident
use patterns. [Good]
In the non-resident market there is a significant
cost disparity between small and large units.
Growing financial incentives for architectural
subdivision is leading to the fragmentation
of dwelling units. Research undertaken by
the Municipality has shown that in 1995,
31,000 dwellings were occupied continuously.
In 2001, this figure had grown to 36,000
. Occupied dwellings are growing in number
because of fragmentation. Holidaymakers
need less space than residents, so there
is increased economic pressure for homes
to become smaller, both in terms of the
number of rooms and their overall area.
[Good and Indovina]
51% of houses are owner-occupied
43% are rented, of which 62% are rented
from private individuals and 28% from the
public sector non-occupied housing is mostly
privately owned [Indovina]
While local institutions have attempted
to maintain a policy of assistance to the
needier sections of society, it has proved
more difficult to do the same for the professional
middle classes because their income disqualifies
them for any type of subsidy and yet they
are unable to sustain the market cost of
renting or buying a home. [Sprocati]
L’Osservatorio casa was set up by
Venice council in order to monitor housing
use and the effect of its policies on the
same. The latest edition of its annual report
makes clear that even the recently introduced
tax incentives for private landlords are
insufficient to counter the divide between
what local residents can afford to pay and
what tourists are prepared to pay. [Sprocati]
At present, continuous use of Venice’s
housing is being substituted by sporadic
use. If the replacement of Venice’s
resident population with a fluctuating population
continues, then Venice’s true uniqueness
will be lost, the connective tissue which
binds together and imbues with meaning her
monumental heritage will be destroyed. [Costa]
CONSERVATION V. RESTORATION
There needs to be greater clarity in classifying
building projects, so that restoration,
restructuring and conservation are not confused.
It is thus imperative that the city council,
the political parties and the private citizen
together decide whether Venice’s future
is one of transformation or conservation.
[Gianighian]
The problem is not simply one of restoration
but is complicated by the necessity of foreseeing
how Venetian society will evolve in the
future. The conservation of a building does
not always run parallel to the conservation
of the social fabric. We can conserve buildings
but we cannot prevent transformations in
society. [Costa]
Each restoration causes a greater or less
degree of damage to the building fabric.
The less restorations are carried out the
better. [Piana]
In any restoration of or any intervention
on a building, what must be avoided is going
from a situation of reversibility to a situation
of irreversibility. [Filippi]
The difficulty of introducing new elements
into an antique context is further complicated
by the tendency of technological elements
to have a built in obsolescence or at least
a maintenance requirement that puts it at
odds with the longevity of the building
fabric. [Filippi]
The solution to conservation problems must
be sought in the price that our cultural
institutions are prepared to ask our economic
institutions to pay for the conservation
of a common heritage. [Filippi]
A survey of the archives of the Commissione
di Salvaguardia per Venezia and the Commissione
Edilizia of the Municipality of Venice has
pointed up two significant findings: over
the last ten years, the vast majority of
interventions on buildings have been transformational
rather than conservational in character;
the standard of work carried out by architectural
and engineering professionals is mediocre,
equivalent to an average of 1.6% on a scale
of 0 = very poor to 3 = good. [Gianighian]
Society has to want to use the funds set
aside to conserve what exists and to promote
conservation, not transformation [Piana]
PLANNING LAWS
‘La Variante al Piano Regolatore Generale
per la Città Antica’ was approved
in 1999 and is the principle tool used by
Venice’s planning department for judging
the compatibility of proposed building projects
with the overall aim of conserving Venice’s
architectural patrimony. Buildings and outside
spaces are classified according to how they
were originally planned and the use to which
they were originally put. Each building
or urban space is allocated a range of compatible
uses, and in the case of about half of the
older residential buildings no other use
is permitted. There are then various intermediate
categories, extending to industrial buildings
and warehouses for which a wide range of
uses, including residential, is permitted,
with the consequent building alterations
that this entails. [Sprocati]
One problem of particular relevance is the
tension produced by the tourist accomodation
sector, not just in terms of its inflationary
effects on the property market but on the
resultant degree of intervention on the
buildings concerned. This problem is being
tackled in various ways: by prohibiting
the merger of two or more apartments for
hotel space and by tightening the rules
governing the rooms for rent sector. [Sprocati]
The new legislation will simplify procedure
and, it is hoped, have cultural and strategic
implications for the relationship between
operators in the building sector and the
institutions responsible for enforcing the
regulations, which in the past has been
one of widespread diffidence. [Sprocati]
The Superintendence is an aid to conservation
but as a body it does not have enough leverage
to influence decisions on those day to day
interventions which form the lion’s
share of building work being carried out
on the city’s built fabric –
on the other 90%. [Gianighian]
THE SPECIAL LAW
In 2001 the Municipality of Venice received
financial support in the region of Lit.
366,000,000,000 (£122,000,000) from
central government under the terms of the
Special Law 798. [Sprocati]
. Funds from the Special Law are channeled
into various urban restoration and regeneration
programmes, of which private housing is
only one. [Sprocati]
The Special Law has made it possible to
subsidize the maintenance and restoration
of a conspicuous portion of Venice’s
private housing. The elevated costs of such
work are usually too onerous for private
individuals. Stringent rules govern the
allocation of these funds, binding beneficiaries
to a set term of residency and building
firms to agreed standards of work. [Sprocati]
It is estimated that, at current levels,
the total sum necessary to complete conservation
work on Venice’s private housing patrimony,
is 620,000,000 euros (£372,000,000)
[Sprocati]
Another damaging phenomena which is being
tackled thanks to funds made available under
the Special Law is wall corrosion due to
the capillary action of salt water. [Sprocati]
A widespread programme of dredging and making
good the brick lining of canals is presently
underway. [Sprocati]
The Mayor of Venice has recently been given
special powers by central government to
assess the damage caused to canalside buildings
by waves from motor-powered water traffic
. The phenomenon of moto ondoso is one of
the principle causes of erosion of foundations
and consequent building decay. [Sprocati]
THE HOUSE IN S GIOBBE:
A JOINT PROJECT BEWEEN THE MUNICIPALITY
OF VENICE AND VENICE IN PERIL
The house is one of a group of early 19th-century
houses built on the site of an earlier row
of dwellings in Calle Beccaria, in the parish
of San Giobbe, Cannaregio, and is the property
of Venice Council. The building suffers
from severe subsidence and is in an advanced
state of decay. The challenge for Venice
in Peril was to carry out a detailed survey
of the house and come up with a restoration
programme which would conserve the characteristically
Venetian elements of the building while
providing four independent living units,
one of which would be destined for use by
an elderly or disabled person. The Municipality
of Venice has undertaken to fund the building
work, due to begin in a few months’
time. [Schubert and Becker]
From the outset, the aim was to elaborate
a novel approach to the problem of conservation,
thus setting a benchmark for best practice
in projects of this kind. The first task
for the team of architects appointed by
Venice in Peril was to gain a thorough knowledge
of the building fabric, both in terms of
its present condition and its history. Only
after exhaustive documentation of what already
existed did the team progress to the next
stage, of identifying the various interventions
necessary. [Schubert and Becker]
The detailed survey was a carried out using
a combination of high and low tech. Following
a methodology which has become common practice
in conservation projects in Germany, an
optical laser was used in order to gain
a three-dimensional image of the building.
This has the advantage of showing up any
deformations. Detailed measurements were
instead taken manually. Every single element
of the building was then painstakingly documented
and described, from the types of brick and
mortar, the roof and ceiling beams, plasterwork,
floor type and fittings such as doors, windows,
grates, fireplaces etc. An equally detailed
survey was also carried out of existing
utilities: gas and water pipes, electric
cables. The survey revealed much recycling
of building materials and a long history
of previous interventions. [Schubert and
Becker]
As much as possible of both the structural
and decorative elements of the existing
building will be preserved. This approach
has practical as well as aesthetic advantages,
since Venetian building techniques, developed
in response to the geophysical problems
of the lagoon environment and basically
unchanged over many centuries, are still
unparalleled. Each element, from the terrazzo
flooring to the iron tie-beams, has a precise
role to play in maintaining the elasticity
which permits buildings to deform without
collapsing. [Schubert and Becker]
. By conserving as much as possible of
the original building in all its historical
phases, it is believed that the costs will
actually be less than those entailed by
a more radical intervention. The cost of
the survey is estimated to be only 1% of
the total restoration sum. [Schubert and
Becker]
PROPOSALS AND SUGGESTIONS
The problem of the education of architects
is of paramount importance for conservation.
Gaining knowledge of the object to be conserved
is perhaps the most difficult phase of the
whole process and requires a very high degree
of training . At present, only 8% of the
total curriculum followed by architectural
students is dedicated to the teaching of
restoration or conservation. This is particularly
shortsighted in view of the fact that the
Italian housing market , with its large
antique component, increasingly requires
professionals with a training in conservation
techniques. [Gianighian]
What is needed is to reverse the tendency
of recent years and fund or fund more those
bodies or individuals who work to conserve
our heritage. A professional figure needs
to be created, similar to a building administrator,
but who has the additional task of conserving.
[Gianighian]
In order to improve the housing situation
for stable residents, two key problems need
to be addressed: there needs to be a more
effective way to manage permanent changes
in the city’s housing stock. Unit
downsizing should be carefully watched and
timeshare subdivision thoughtfully considered
in terms of its overall impact on the city;
a more detailed analysis should take place
of how resident and non-resident use patterns
integrate. Appropriate strategies need to
be developed to support resident households.
Some already exist. There needs to be a
method for tracking these examples and understanding
the architectural and economic implications
of each. [Good]
The fate of Venice’s vernacular architecture,
whether protected or not, depends on many
factors, not least among them an improved
knowledge of what exists. This could be
achieved by the creation of an inventory
of domestic buildings. Such a tool would
provide a sort of open archive which could
be consulted by both architectural professionals
and the wider public. Churches and church
buildings could be excluded since they already
enjoy protected status and are, for the
most, richly documented. In contrast, almost
all the houses and many of the palaces in
Venice are little known or researched. Even
the simplest dwelling is rich in material
testimony of its history and the history
of the city.
Much of the work of collecting data has
already been carried out by various bodies
and individuals over the years, but the
results remain uncollated and unpublished.
Reference could be made, for eaxample, to
the archives of the Soprintendenza ai Beni
Architettonici e Artistici, and to the material
collected by many Universities and individuals
over the years. [Wolters]
Inclusiveness is the very life blood of
a city. In its ability to absorb rather
than reject, a city’s fate is decided.
Where there is intolerance or conflict,
it is usually to the advantage of the stronger
party. Venice’s problem is above all
to promote greater knowledge and understanding
between people, things, and its new inhabitants.
The proposed inventory of the city’s
vernacular buildings could play either a
positive or negative role, depending on
the data that are entered and on the degree
of efficiency that is being expected. If
the rules are too strict, the result might
actually go against conservation, development
and good practice, and give rise instead
to a flattening out of differences and the
imposition of homogeneity. A celebration
of diversity should be the goal, a widening
dialogue and a fruitful meeting between
people and things. [Dezzi Bardeschi]
The identity of a people derives from this
people’s history, of which buildings
form the most substantial and tangible part.
In a spiritual sense the heritage of a place
belongs to the people of this place and
the organisation in charge of looking after
this heritage fails to consult the local
populace at its peril. Every conservation
project should have a maintenance programme
built into it and it is at this lowly but
all-important level of maintenance and repair
– of daily care – that the role
of ordinary people can be seen to be of
paramount importance. [Cantacuzino]
Might some new layers of history be added
with some good modern architecture and the
building of new houses in areas such as
the Arsenale, or on the Lido? [Bloxham]
PARALLEL STORIES
In Germany, conservation has been aided
by the publication of various types of building
inventory. These vary from the Grossinventar
to the very useful Baualterspläne of
Regensburg, and the Denkmaltopographien.
The Denkmaltopographien have been produced
for a number of cities and have achieved
high sales. By reaching a wide public they
have improved town planning practice, influencing
the way building projects are carried out
as well as providing a useful aid to individuals.
They have also made a valuable contribution
to historical and artistic research. [Wolters]
Most of Venice’s public housing is
owned and managed by the Municipality, with
a small proportion in the hands of religious
or charitable institutions. The work of
the Peabody Trust in London was described
in terms of providing a possibly useful
comparison: the Peabody is a Not for Profit
organization which is city specific, has
the problem of managing buildings with listed
status (albeit 150 years old at most), and
is similarly having to keep pace with sociological
change. However, its political and economic
independence, coupled with a dynamic and
continuing building programme means it operates
in a very different context to that of Venice.
The Peabody Trust currently manages 19,000
properties and has recently set up a trading
non-charitable subsidiary as a means of
generating additional income for its activities.
[Robinson]
The city of Bruges in Belgium has similarly
had to tackle the problem of sustainable
conservation and resident housing difficulties
exacerbated by mass tourism. It has found
ways to rehabilitate and restore an ancient
city while at the same time providing social
housing. [Pickard]
Amsterdam’s geographical site and
its popularity as a tourist destination
means that it shares some of the problems
affecting Venice. In recent years, some
innovative approaches have been developed
to solving resident housing problems. [Pickard]
Forty years ago, Italia Nostra funded the
restoration of a group of five small houses
in Calle Lanza in Venice, thus anticipating
many of the themes of the present conference.
A comparison with the San Giobbe project
would be most useful, especially since the
earlier project provided a quite different
answer to the problems of restoring an old
building for modern living. There, a decision
was taken to completely transform the building’s
internal structure. Rather than adhere to
the vertical arrangement of rooms in the
original houses, the architects created
a number of flats on one level. There was
much criticism at the time of this decision,
but the problem for any conservation project
remains the cardinal one of what model of
living we are proposing when we seek to
render habitable an old building.
Could there be a role for small Trusts,
even from outside Italy, to take on and
restore Venetian vernacular buildings? [Morrice]
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