The study and conservation of reinforced concrete architecture: still a challenge?

The study of historic, modern and contemporary architecture in concrete is an interesting research field, still in progress, which requires multidisciplinary awareness and specific expertise but also new methodological insights. Their preservationrests on the recognition of their peculiarities and values by the collectivity. It also depends on the establishment of specific processes of criticalknowledgeaimed at decoding these architectural works in order to respect without tamper them. However, too often in the past, the temporal proximity of the construction period - and then the lack of relationships with history - has driven to operate renovation work to the detriment of their authenticity and integrity. Interventions, which have privileged the image and not the effective survival of the buildings. Focusing on twoemblematic architectures of XX and XXI centuries, this paper intends to highlight the technical and operative difficulties related to their conservation, whichstill is a great challenge for the architects of our time.