Two Porcheddu’s quakeproof buildings in Messina reconstruction

Abstract

The Porcheddu Company of Turin (importer in North Italy of the Hennebique building system) was charged of 13 projects in Messi-na, after the 1908 quake: the study of the unpublished material in the Porcheddu archive, hosted at DISEG in the Turin Polytechnic sketches out two construction sites for quake-proof housings, the economical homes for the “Unione Messinese” in the Orto Botanico district, with a reinforced concrete frame and the Homes for the State Employees with pillars made of a prefabricated steel cage and on site poured concrete. The two different construction systems testify the business and law debate on quake-proof buildings.