The Albaycin in Granada: studies and researches for the restoration guidelines

ABSTRACT: A team of professors, researchers and students from the Department of Ar-chitecture of Roma Tre University and from the School of Architecture of Granada Uni-versity, are developing studies, searches and graphic surveys of the historical buildings of the Albaycin Arabic district in Granada. Based on the “Manuali del Recupero” and on the “Codici di pratica” experiences, started in Rome during the 1980's by Paolo Marconi and Antonino Giuffrè, the aim of the work is to produce a useful tool for the documentation, knowledge and safeguarding of the historical built environment. The pressure of mass tourism is rapidly altering the identity of the district, where heavy renovations of historical buildings cause the irreversible loss of sizeable parts of the urban fabric and of the traditional structural and decorative elements. Even when, to satisfy tourist demand, interventions are made reproducing architectural de-tails or superficial finishes in keeping with the mudéjar architecture, the disappearance of traditional artisanship and the loss of pre-modern construction techniques result in unedu-cated and false reproductions, clearly far from the material and formal character of the original designs. It is, therefore, necessary to re-appropriate this knowledge, documenting what still exists to understand the original building techniques and the pre-modern anti-seismic measures. The research develops studies using archival, bibliographical and cartographical sources to decipher the typological and morphological urban evolution. The critical surveys allow the appreciation of the surviving elements, from the houses and palaces to the masonry and wooden structures, from the architectural details to the finish-ing elements. The drawings describe, with general axonometric views, sections and details, the complex-ity of the traditional building structures useful to safeguarding the historical built environ-ment and preserving its identity, and enable a suitable sustainable approach to seismic and other natural events. The paper report the current progress of the work.