Un patrimonio celato fra le architetture moderne di Asmara: avanguardie e sperimentazioni costruttive italiane in terra d’Oltremare

Abstract

Asmara (the first African country to be inscribed on the World Heritage list since 2017) is a city of great architectural interest, with many buildings of Italian Rationalism (with local stylistic variations) highlighting the architectural and urban planning periods of Modernism. Asmara, today, preserves this heritage despite decades of wars and political instability, as well as difficult maintenance and restoration work. The aim of the research is to highlight the technological and constructive aspects of these architectures and to safeguard their originality (as described in the UNESCO Dossier). Today, the patents and construction solutions of these architectures are little researched, but they represent the essence of these works and the architectural and experimental season of those times. The research and classification of this heritage, with “deconstruction” approach, represents the methodological solution to preserve the 'material' and 'immaterial' value of these architectures.

Keywords

• Asmara
• Italian colonialism
• Building construction