Construction in Calabria, Italy (Part Two)

Having travelled to this part of Italy several times since I was 6 years old, this visit to the hilltown of Maiera was different. There is a new project in this sleepy hilltown - a 4-star hotel. The town dates back to the 1100s and the hotel occupies a old palazzo (or palace) which is several hundred years old. The Hotel has four levels. The upper most two will contain rooms with private baths, the second level will hold a restaurant and the first level will have the kitchen. An adjacent building will also have rooms and office space.

Above is the entry to the second level. The scaffolding is set up infront of the entry. A hoist is mounted to the upper portion of the scaffold to assist with material transfer. There is a mortar mixing station on the ground level and the upper level adjacent to the scaffolding.

The metal decking is a modular floring which snaps into place providing flooring, a toe-guard, and an access hatch. There are stairs within the structure, but to access the scaffolding an internal ladder and hatch are used. Inside the building existing floors were reconstructed - terracotta forms the deck and concrete with a steel mesh wire provide the compressive strength.

Walls are composed of terracotta or concrete block. Above is an image showing a concrete block wall with electrical chases installed. To understand the process correctly. A mason lays the block and mortar for the wall. The electrician then comes through and chips aways at the block to insert plastic pipe which forms the conduit chase. Then either the mason or electrician come back through and patch the wall. Eventually which wall will have a stucco finish and no wiring will be seen. The wall does not appear to be load bearing.

With a masonry based system with no false or acoustical ceiling, all conduit is run on the floor. The ridges shown in the photo above are conduit runs along the floor of the upper level. These contain electrical lines. Once the plastic tubes are placed they are covered with concrete. Eventually a topping coat of concrete will be placed to level the floor before tile is placed. When I observed this I couldn't help wonder what it is like to work on this type of surface?

I did not learn to exact finish date or other details of the project. I was mainly trying to understand construction techniques and practices. Another entry will explain some bit of the regulations that were posted and practices I observed.

Construction in Calabria, Italy (Part One)

From June 15th to July 24th, my wife and I spent 6 weeks in Calabria Italy. Starting from New York we travelled to London then on to Rome where we took a train south to Scalea, Italia. We spent most of the time with family in Maiera, exploring the hill towns of Maiera, Grisolia, and the surrounding area. During the trip I noticed some construction projects and practices in and around the area we stayed. The next couple of blog entries are set to describe some of the encounters and experiences from this trip.

Above is the new Heathrow Terminal 5 in London, UK. It is essential an emmense roof with several layers of functional space (security, check-in, shops, bars, etc.). The supporting structure is only visible in pieces from other locations. Only when boarding the flight (shown above) can one see the entire structure.

The vernacular architecture of Maiera is agricultural (Much like to barns that dot the American landscape). Buildings are small and located at the very edges of the property. In a society where everyone's livelihood depends on farming, every square meter of space is essential. The introduction of roads (during the 1950s) developed along existing pedestrian pathways.

The structures of the region, as the one shown above, are composed of local stone which are set in locally produced mortar. The striations in the facade show the varied composition of the mortar. The dark spots in the photo are places where scaffolding was tied to the wall during construction. Almost every structure in the area shows these marks of construction. Due to the scarcity of material and the labor involved in providing a finishing coat of stucco, the scaffold voids were left exposed to the elements. The pergola shown on the left-hand side of the building is supported within the scaffold voids. The beautiful women in the center of the photo is my wife. The precise date of construction is unknown, but the approximate age of the structure is said to be over a hundred years.

In Grisolia, a neighboring hilltop town, we came upon this simple structure. In the upper left-hand corner one can see the roof structure without the terracotta tiles. The roof rafters were composed of dry bundled cane, an abundant product which is generally used for agricultural planting (supporting beans, trellises, training tomatoes, etc.). Here the bundles are placed close enough together to support the valley of cupped terracotta tiles. Once two valleys of tile are in place a ridge of terracotta was placed which simultaneously covers the bundled cane rafter and shed water into the terracotta valleys. (Insert Sketch).

The observations on this trip were not limited to historic or vernacular building. Other entries will include a ruined hilltown (Cirella Vecchia), a 4-star construction project in the hilltown of Maiera, and other observations of construction practices.