RETROFIT OF A “BRUTALIST” OFFICE BUILDING FROM THE '70S IN ROME

Upgrading the existing building stock is one of the challenges for the near future. The replacement of the façade for most office buildings from the '60s to the '80s, is one of the main actions to increase their energy performance and inner comfort. Nevertheless, replacing the façades could have a big impact on the building's appearance. The question that arises is: how can we refurbish listed buildings, maintaining the original features of their architecture? The case study that is presented in this paper is the retrofit of a “brutalist” exposed concrete office building from the '70s in Rome. The retrofit project aims to an overall improvement of the energy performance to make it compliant with the principles of CO2 emission reduction. The focus is on a new high-performance glazed façade with relevant thermal and acoustic performance and with a daylight integrated control system device. This building is listed in the Carta della Qualità della Città di Roma (Quality Chart of the City of Rome) drawn up to address and control transfor-mations on the Roman architectural heritage. The intervention saved, therefore, the building’s original design by preserving volumes and materials and, especially, the exposed concrete façade. This paper focuses on the large size glass windows that identify the contemporary character of the project. The window frames dimension has significantly increased since the '70s and high-performance façade glazing cause a different appearance. Subse-quently the change of the overall image of the building is a design issue. Design goals was to minimize the perceived dimension of the window frames and maximize the energy performances, at the same time give a new image to the building through the new façade.