Renovation of historic buildings with demountable and deployable systems: the case of Sant'Agostino Monastery in Bergamo

In these last decades we are witnessing an increasing attention towards the renovation and reuse of historical buildings, in order to give them new life or a better way to be lived by their inhabitants. With the new European codes on energy and sustainability, it is becoming more important to pay attention to the construction phase of a building. It can be obvious that if we can reuse an existing edifice, there will not be any need for energy for a new erection, so avoiding land occupation and waste of natural resources. There are several international examples of such a strategy, like the British Museum in London, the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam and the German Historical Museum in Berlin. This study aims to show that the use of deployable and demountable prefabricated structures can provide a better flexibility for the use of open spaces in ancient buildings. As a case, the Small Cloister of Sant'Agostino Monastery in Bergamo has been considered. In fact, this historical building is going to be renovated in order to host the new doctoral school, and it can represent a viable example of an integration between new and existing structures.