A Multidisciplinary Approach to Retrofitting Historic Buildings: The Case of the Former San Salvatore Hospital, L’Aquila

Earthquakes represent one of the most disastrous natural phenomena for adverse social and urban impacts. The consequent need to recover buildings from a catastrophic event may represent an opportunity for their structural and energy retrofit, particularly for listed structures or those representing architectural heritage. However, the various aspects of energy optimisation, seismic protection and cultural heritage preservation of the building stock may be in conflict. For this reason, a multidisciplinary design approach is needed to consider all the aspects involved in the retrofit process. This chapter discusses the development and application of an Operative Design Tool (ODT). This is a tool based on a multidisciplinary approach and sustainability principle guidelines with standards for seismic and energy retrofitting. The applicability of the proposed approach is examined through the analysis of the former San Salvatore Hospital of L’Aquila, a complex city district of buildings of different eras, severely damaged by the 2009 earthquake. The development of ODT identifies energy improvement best practices that simultaneously allow renovations to address the issues of seismic damage, protection and valorisation of historic buildings. Such guidelines for integrating the design of seismic improvement and energy optimisation in historical buildings can help policy makers and designers during renovation processes.