Alberto Arenghi

How can the topic of accessibility enhance the value of cultural heritage? This book aims at overcoming the traditional relationship between accessibility and disability. Pointing to the core of the que- stion, the volume represents a cultural and operative tool to expand human freedom and the opportunity for all, to give a direct and per- sonal contribution to the growth of society. The diverse geographical, social and cultural background of the contributors adds a broader insight into the topic. Different visions are brought together in order to raise the awareness of the impor- tance of accessibility as a key strategy for building a truly inclusive society. The texts address a large audience of professionals, scho- lars and students who are dealing with topics related to the design and management of accessible spaces, goods and services, with particular reference to those in the cultural heritage, museum and tourist sectors. Heritage is important for everybody. Therefore, it should not be denied to anyone

Il contributo ha la finalità di riportare il punto di vista degli studenti con disabilità e con disturbi specifici di apprendimento (DSA) in merito alla didattica a distanza universitaria (DaD) erogata nella fase di lockdown causato da Covid-19. In particolare, si presentano i risultati di interviste condotte agli studenti con Bisogni Formativi Speciali di tre Atenei e relativi ai 4 mesi di sospensione delle attività didattiche in presenza: Università «Ca’ Foscari» di Venezia, Università di Brescia, Università di Salerno.

Le risposte degli studenti intervistati restituiscono giudizi prevalentemente positivi sull’esperienza della DaD, ma evidenziano anche alcune difficoltà, tra cui quelle legate alla debolezza delle infrastrutture tecnologiche, ma anche ad aspetti sociali ed emotivi imputabili alla mancanza di relazioni faccia a faccia con i docenti e con i pari.

Gli autori riportano criticità e spunti utili a migliorare l’offerta formativa delle prossime fasi di formazione — che sarà nella maggior parte dei casi «mista» — con il proposito di mettere a fuoco le specificità locali delle tre università, ma anche gli aspetti trasversali che i risultati delle interviste evidenziano. Gli spunti di miglioramento sono ritenuti opportuni e con una ricaduta positiva immediata sia per gli studenti con disabilità e con DSA sia per tutta l’utenza studentesca universitaria.

The experimental assessment of building components represents a complex task, which involves the measurement and control of a wide number of physical phenomena. The use of the dynamic approach in outdoor real scale facilities provides a good representation of real operating systems, thanks to the inclusion of rather complex parameters, such as the occupants’ behaviour. However, the adoption of outdoor test solutions is usually characterized by a high uncertainty of the results, due to the complexity of the physical model and to the large variability of the input parameters. On the other hand, the use of indoor tests under controlled conditions has proved to be able to provide reliable results, thanks to the strict control of boundary conditions and of input parameters. The main drawback of this approach is represented by the scarce significance of the results, due to the rather simple modelling of the real behaviour of building physics. The aim of this paper is thus to present a test facility which represents a compromise between the dynamic control approach in real scale systems and the use of indoor tests under controlled conditions: the Building Envelopes ouTdoor Thermal Test (BEsT3) facility of the University of Brescia. Thanks to application of the dynamic behaviour of real environmental conditions to outdoor test cells with controlled indoor thermal parameters, the proposed system has proved to be able to provide reliable results, while also satisfactorily reproducing the conditions of real operating systems. Experimental studies have been conducted to assess three different window solutions under real dynamic conditions. Measured data have been used to create a correspondent numerical model designed in Energy Plus. The model has been validated with different dynamic simulations, in which the complexity of the parameters has been increased step by step. The numerical results provided by the model have shown a good correspondence with the real behaviour of the outdoor test cells.

This paper presents the UniBS4All project, aimed at developing
systems and practices for the creation of an accessible urban university
campus. UniBS4All is also the name of a mobile application
able to suggest personalized navigation paths towards and among
the buildings of the University of Brescia. In particular, on the basis
of the disabilities of the user (motor disability and/or visual impairment)
and on the chosen path type (pedestrian, driving or with
public transportation), the app proposes an accessible path, that
is, a path able to avoid architectural barriers. The app is based on
Google Maps API and exploits Google Directions API to compute
the paths tailored to the users’ characteristics and preferences.

Accessibility to a fortified structure is quite intriguing when considering that to some extent it is necessary to study an “attack strategy” to find “weak” points of a complex designed to be impregnable and therefore inaccessible from the outside.
The challenge of the accessibility of a castle often becomes thus its reachability, which today must be guaranteed to everyone
for a correct declination of the concept of enhancement. The accessibility of an ancient place refers to the possibility of having individual and collective, tangible and intangible "memory", which allows to pursue sustainable development according to what has been underlined by recent international documents. The high altitudes to be climbed, the tortuous paths which are often present, the spaces distributed in multiple buildings all pose no easy questions. There are scanty, consistent design answers available. However, perhaps the main issue remains,
as is the case for many other cultural assets – the intended use and management themes related to accessibility to fortified structures.
These considerations will be treated with particular reference to Colle Cidneo and its Castle in the historic centre of Brescia.

This paper describes a web-based system composed of an authoring tool and a cross-platform mobile application, based on augmented reality and Bluetooth Low Energy technology, aimed at improving the visitor experience in a museum through tailored, accessible and engaging content and interaction. The system proposes itself as a low-cost solution for museum organizations, both in terms of required technical devices (visitors' smartphone is exploited for experiencing the augmented reality solution) and professional skills needed for long-term content maintenance. As to the latter, the authoring tool allows museum curators to create and manage all necessary contents that make up an app instance, including the structure of the museum, artwork descriptions and related materials (photos, videos and speeches) suitable for the different user profiles. A preliminary experimentation of the system demonstrates the feasibility of the proposal.

Improving the usability conditions for all is one of the basic concepts underlying the enhancement of cultural heritage. Usability must be declined both in terms of physical accessibility and sensory-perceptive of the places of cultural interest, both as accessibility of contents of which they are witnesses. In this field, ICT technology can become very useful especially in terms of communication and thus effective before and during the visiting of a site. ICT technology is analyzed, also by examples, by identifying the limits, mainly due to the fact that in most cases the means are preferred rather than the goal, and the potential that is very promising if the same are designed to support undifferentiated users with the aim of transmitting cultural and not spectacular messages.

In 1998 Molly Follette Story, James Mueller and Roland Mace published the book The Universal Design File; that can be considered the result of a long way, started by Mace in 1985, towards a design approach based on the principles of Universal Design. In 2010 the Centre for Active Design publishes the Active Design Guidelines: Promoting Physical Activity and Health in Design. Between these two milestones, this article offers some ideas about the evolution of the universal approach to design. Assuming that Universal Design approach can present limits, this article aims to reflect on the relationship between universal and particular in developing a theoretical approach to architecture and design, supporting the idea that the wide gray area of the population who need specific access solutions can find answers to their needs only through successive adjustments, time by time plugged on universal solutions. This implies a process of requirement­based retrofitting of existing spaces and goods, to get qualities or perfecting performances otherwise inadequate. From this perspective the project for accessibility should be seen as a never ending process, and not a fix and final product, and Universal Design should be considered as a methodological approach ideally tending towards accessibility as a goal. Having this in mind, the article explores the issues related to how to blend universal and particular in a human centred design strategy, how to combine design actions and awareness by the users to allow an effective mutual adaptation between people and their living environment. The article aims to be further food for thought regarding research to be implemented in future works.

The historical center of a city is the place where urban functions are mainly con- centrated and where architectural language plays a relevant role into setting the system of rela- tionships between public and private spaces. In this context, the system of pavements takes a relevant role, helping to shape the public spaces and their prevailing use. We cannot deny the role that a welcoming, accessible and easily walkable urban environment plays for the social in- clusion in the community. The issue of the pavement’s accessibility is important for the use of public spaces, influencing the opportunity to make them walkable, thus deeply affecting their full usability and safety in use. Working on pedestrian pathways in urban areas requires a cul- tural exchange among different disciplines, in order to identify strategies and methods of inter- vention to upgrade the practicability of the whole city.

In recent years, the issue of health has been increasingly linked to that of building design and urban planning. In fact, the expressions healthy buildings, healthy cities, healthy architectures and others are more and more recurrent in literature.
There are many and certainly different reasons: medical advances, the spread of the concepts related to sustainability, the studies on the toxicity of building materials, but also negative factors, such as the increase of pollution.
But what concept of health are we considering? How design can affect human health? What operational meaning the expressions above mentioned assume?
We will look for possible answers to the previous introduced questions through an interdisciplinary approach, starting from the etymology of the word “to design” (which in Latin is pro jacere, namely “to throw ahead”). If a project has to be intended as the realization of a “being there”, always projected forward, if a project entails the attention one has of himself and of other persons; then a project needs to take care of its surrounding world, and therefore of health.
As a result, health and environment come to be strictly intertwined. In 2001 the WHO proposed the ICF (International Classification of Functioning) offering the world of medical sciences the unique opportunity to interpreting “health” as a condition that affects and relates in a mutual way with social life, also through the environment. Following this perspective, design simply cannot leave aside an extensive analysis of “health”, supported or disadvantaged by the environment (built and not), and we suggest the ICF might become a valid operational tool useful for defining and building healthy and proactive environments.

L'accessibilità agli spazi, ai beni e ai servizi è tutt'ora vista come un tema di nicchia che riguarda una minoranza della società: le persone con disabilità. Tale sentir comune è anche dovuto al fatto che l'accessibilità sia vissuta soltanto come un costo. Il presente lavoro, al contrario, mostra che l'accessibilità può costituire un valore, in alcuni casi anche con contenuti econo-mici. In tale prospettiva il volume si articola in un'analisi prelimina-re del concetto di accessibilità e della relativa regolamentazio-ne nazionale e internazionale, per poi muovere sull'identifica-zione degli attori aziendali-in specie l'impresa e la pubblica amministrazione-prevalentemente coinvolti nel processo di miglioramento delle condizioni di accessibilità agli spazi, ai beni e ai servizi. Il prosieguo del volume si focalizza sull'indagine delle moda-lità e degli ambiti rilevanti ai fini dell'analisi del valore econo-mico riferibile alle scelte aziendali dirette a favorire la parteci-pazione di tutti gli individui alla vita sociale.

How can the topic of accessibility enhance the value of cultural heritage? This book aims at overcoming the traditional relationship between accessibility and disability. Pointing to the core of the que- stion, the volume represents a cultural and operative tool to expand human freedom and the opportunity for all, to give a direct and per- sonal contribution to the growth of society.
The diverse geographical, social and cultural background of the contributors adds a broader insight into the topic. Different visions are brought together in order to raise the awareness of the impor- tance of accessibility as a key strategy for building a truly inclusive society. The texts address a large audience of professionals, scho- lars and students who are dealing with topics related to the design and management of accessible spaces, goods and services, with particular reference to those in the cultural heritage, museum and tourist sectors.
Heritage is important for everybody. Therefore, it should not be denied to anyone.

A. ARENGHI, A. PANE, L’aggiunta nel progetto di restauro per l’accessibilità del pa-trimonio culturale/ The addition in conservation project for the accessibility to cultural heritage, in «Techne. Journal of Technology for Architecture and Environment», n. 12, 2016.

This paper addresses the issue of balancing the two values underlying the accessibility and conservation of cultural heritage: its use and its protection. These values are often, wrongly, regarded as opposites, or as incompatible. The reason for this contrast originates in the way of understanding ancient architecture and in the value of the relationship between architecture and people.
This issue is considered by presenting a recent case concerning the Museum of Santa Giulia in Brescia, a multi-layered complex that preserves evidence ranging from the prehistoric to the contemporary age, housed in a monastic complex of Longobard origin.
The recent failure to build some ramps proposed for increasing accessibility to the church of San Salvatore, an integral part of the museum’s itinerary, offers an opportunity to reflect on the need for better integration between different, and only apparently opposed, instances.
The topic is dealt with by referring to the most recent disciplinary reflections in the field of conservation carried out in Italy with respect to the issue of accessibility to the cultural heritage, without neglecting juridical-normative aspects and international documents, such as the Faro Convention.
This multidisciplinary reading aims to highlight the main significance of accessing cultural heritage, with reference also to the objectives of sustainable development and the human development of the individual and the reference community.

The paper focuses on the musealisation of archaeological areas inserted within existing architectural structures, from the point of view of physical and cultural accessibility, also with regard to memory and the relationship with the historical urban context. The hypothesis of musealisation of the Roman thermal site at the “Arnaldo” Liceo (secondary school) in Brescia (currently inaccessible and barred from use) would consent both its enhancement and an easier and more complete reading of the extension of Roman Brixia, today mainly located in the northern part of the city. In particular, by making the thermal site more user-friendly and manageable, the project aims to redefine its relationship with both the school building and the city.