Criteria for the sustainable re-use of disused industrial buildings in the north-east of Italy.

Recently, a sensibility directed to the re-use of the vast and diffused building patrimony for the industrial production developed in Europe. Originally built in the second half of the 19th and last century, such patrimony is now disused due to processes of economic transformation and urbanism. Even though considered minor buildings nevertheless, such buildings carry historic-cultural values which are recognized and appreciated. The idea of re-using these buildings is linked to the historical memories, which tend to enhance the cultural identity of a determined territory. However, a further challenge is added; the realization of redevelopments based on sustainable criteria. Through the analysis of case studies in the North-East of Italy, this work proposes to identify sustainable criteria of intervention for this building patrimony. Industrial buildings such as spinning and cotton mills have been analyzed; this paper focuses exclusively on spinning mills. In these cases, sustainability is intended in its wide meaning, it therefore regards: the application of the criterion of “least land consumption”; the identification of the building’s characteristics; the application of the criterion of the reuse compatible with the materials and the construction techniques of the building; the introduction of compatible and innovative technologies that can be integrated without altering of the historical characteristics of the building itself. From this detailed analysis, it is possible to extrapolate guidelines for a sustainable planning in this particular and specific context.