a reversible sign
MARV – Museo d’Arte Palazzo Rubini Vesin, Gradara

The works, which will affect the rooms of the palazzo intended for the bookshop and entrance corridor on the ground floor and the exhibition rooms on the main floor, specifically concern bringing the electrical system up to code, the construction and integration of special systems such as emergency lighting and escape routes, fire detection, intrusion detection, CCTV, sound distribution and emergency announcements; the complete replacement of the air conditioning system and the creation of a more sophisticated relative humidity control system serving the largest exhibition room, as well as new lighting equipment for all the exhibition rooms.

The building works will mainly concern support work for the air conditioning system, which involves installing a heat pump positioned in the courtyard at the rear of the palazzo used as a car park (see A_01 p. 03, 04) and screened with a suitably spaced privet hedge; the connection of the unit to the main floor and all the works crossing floors and walls at the various levels of the museum, which will be carried out through openings of approximately 10×20 cm reinforced with steel tubing.

Repairs to solid masonry will be carried out with material similar to the existing one and the same working technique, bound with lime mortar. The lime plaster will consist of a first roughcast layer finished with a second layer of very fine mortar, all completed with a two-coat limewash, after applying a coat of fixative, in a colour matching the existing one.

The solution adopted for the distribution of the air conditioning provides for the pipework to run outside the perimeter walls, minimising the impact on the existing structure (floors and load-bearing walls) by making only localised openings at the masonry partitions dividing the exhibition rooms.

The electrical and special-systems network will also partly follow the air conditioning distribution network, while another part will reuse existing openings.

The entire distribution network thus designed, positioned around the perimeter of the various rooms, will be suitably concealed by a fire-rated laminate skirting with a finish to be sampled, removable for maintenance or inspection of the systems. The skirting must in no way interfere with the mouldings of the existing openings and will therefore be tapered at the junctions presenting this issue.

The floor-standing direct-expansion indoor units (fan coils) will be suitably positioned within the recesses of the existing perimeter openings and concealed by a fire-rated laminate casing with a finish to be sampled, on which an openable two-leaf aluminium screen is fixed, with a finish to be sampled; this light screen will be laser-cut with a decoration bearing the logo of Palazzo Rubini Vesin and will act as a filter against excessive solar radiation.

All the equipment needed within each room for the operation of the special systems — such as closed-circuit cameras, intrusion detectors, optical-acoustic fire alarm signage, fire alarm signage, fire alarm button, presence detector for activating lighting, and service sockets — will be housed in a single totem-shaped element in fire-rated laminate with a finish to be sampled, connected to the systems skirting, reducing the visual impact of these elements, which would otherwise be located at various points depending on the old ducting.

In order to avoid an uncontrolled increase in relative humidity in exhibition room 04, a dehumidification unit will be installed in the false ceiling of room 03, anchored to the ceiling. Through ducting positioned inside the false ceiling, dehumidified air will be introduced into exhibition room 04 with return air taken from the ceiling of room 03. This system does not provide for supply or return with the exterior and therefore does not require openings on the Via Zanvettori façade.

The solution adopted for the functional intervention seeks to adhere to the principle of reversibility, constituting a durable intervention that nonetheless respects the originality of the building and represents a compatible addition, while at the same time guaranteeing the possibility of reviewing, improving or even removing the intervention, leaving the least possible alteration. The recognisability of the intervention, in the practice of conserving the historic artefact, is also an unavoidable requirement, closely linked to that of reversibility; if the action were integrated, camouflaged or even inaccessible, it could not easily be the subject of modifications or improvements.