*3.1. Knowledge Phase*

3.1.1. Collection of Data to Describe the School of Interest from a Historical, Technical (Structural, Technological, Plant Engineering) and Architectural Point of View, According to its Own Training Plan and the Active Extra-Didactic Services Offered to the Community

As already highlighted in the previous Section 2.1, it is through the ARES, established by Law no. 23/1996, that the verification and collection of information about the consistency (surface and volume) and the management system of the school space takes place, also for the purpose of planning interventions compatible with the building and the training system in force. In many cases, this database is still incomplete, inaccurate and not always updated in the information. So, it is necessary to verify the data on the school building that is the subject of the evaluation problem of intervention contained in the database through inspections and field surveys to obtain more up-to-date and complete data to be used in the implementation of the proposed methodology.

Taking into account the data contained in the QE of ARES, the main information to be considered when implementing the procedure concerns the geographical location and morphological characteristics of the building (year of construction; architectural layout, overall dimensions of the building, etc.), the type of training offered and information on the total number of students enrolled both in the last year of activity and in previous years, the superficial consistencies of the spaces (internal and external) used for teaching and not, the safety conditions (earthquake-proof, fireproof, hygienic-sanitary and environmental) of the school, and the types of services offered to students and/or people not attending school during ordinary teaching activities in teaching hours and not.

Table 2 specifies for each type of information the reference source in order to find and quantify the data of interest, even in the event that the descriptive sheet of the school in question is not present in the ARES information system. For each type of data, the usefulness (expressed in terms of objectives to be pursued) is also illustrated.


**Table 2.** Types of information to be collected for describing the state of the school.

### 3.1.2. Socio-Economic Analysis of the Urban Context

With the aim of carrying out specific interventions that can also satisfy the needs of social aggregation of the community, it is appropriate to examine the urban context of reference in terms of services for the population. This is done by analyzing the market conditions in terms of demand and services supply that characterize the territory in which the school assumes a polarizing function.

To do this, it is necessary to demarcate the territorial area of interest in which it is necessary to detect and quantify the demand and services supply characterizing the market of the urban context of reference. The criteria for identifying the analysis area can specifically concern the composition and characteristics (economic, social, etc.) of the local population, the economic-productive system of the territory, the socio-cultural apparatus of the place, or even the morphology of the urban fabric of reference of which the school is a part. On the basis of morphological aspects, the field of investigation can coincide either with the perimeter of a single district, or of a part of it, in which the school can assume a catalytic and barycentric function with respect to the evolutionary dynamics of the surrounding urban fabric, or even with larger areas in the case of schools with locations located in the city and that are distant from each other. This, in part also depends on the demographic dimension and the territorial extension of the municipality and its parts in which the school structure is located. The definition of the gravitational field can therefore be carried out on the basis of data relating to: settlement type, socio-demographic information (age, sex, nationality, educational qualification/level, social class, employment, income, etc.), geographical information (region/province/common, urban/suburban/rural area, city size, population, climate, etc.), psychographic information (lifestyle, habits, etc.), and historical, cultural and productive information.

Operationally, the quantification of these indicators and, in particular, of the number and location of services present in the urban environment, can be carried out by identifying a cluster of circular analyses with a center at the point where the school of interest is located and a certain radius. In the Circular N◦ 425/1967 in Appendix C, the measures of influence rays at each level of the school to be considered in order to identify the territorial area in which to include the catchment area referred to the school building considered are specified. Depending on the territorial scope of the survey thus identified and the type of supply/demand characterizing the cluster in which the school falls, the types of services offered by the school institution are compared with those present in the territory. Within the cluster analysis, the type of services considered are those illustrated in the Ministerial Decree of April 14, 2013 and include libraries, commercial activities, accommodations, gyms, bars and restaurants, and spaces for the community.

### *3.2. Evaluation Phase*

3.2.1. Evaluations of Consistency According to the Technical and Regulatory Requirements to Be Complied with at the Design Stage and the Actual State of the School

From the identification and collection of data, both of the building to be redeveloped and of the urban context in which the school is located, it is necessary to proceed to the verification of congruence between the actual state of the school and the reference law provisions. Specifically, on the basis of the surface textures measured for each space intended for teaching (frontal and laboratory), the minimum surface area per student for each type of environment (classroom, laboratory, gym) is verified in correspondence with each floor of the building, in compliance with the minimum regulatory targets to be respected. The value of the surface area per capita to be considered during the verification phase varies with respect to the school training offer, as regulated in the Ministerial Decree of 18 December 1975; in compliance with the provisions of the law on school building, the level of compliance of the school's functional, seismic, fireproof and hygienic-sanitary system with the safety and use conditions to be guaranteed is assessed.

By means of an evaluation index (Li), the degree of adequacy of the spatial-functional (Lf), structural (Ls), fireproof (La) and hygienic-sanitary (Li-s) system of the school building to the requirements expressed in the i-*th* reference standard is qualitatively measured, as well as the level of correlation between the services currently present in the school and those found in the territorial area of investigation (Lser). For each aspect, the corresponding Li is measured qualitatively by assigning a score (pi) according to the scale of values from 1 to 6 used in the filling in of the questionnaire for ARES (6 = does not require any intervention; 5 = requires partial maintenance; 4 = requires complete maintenance; 3 = requires partial replacement or renovation; 2 = requires replacement or complete renovation; 1 = requires ex-novo installation). On the basis of the scale of values used to fill in the ARES questionnaire, the attribution of the score to the Li parameter for each aspect is a function of the greater and/or lesser level of adaptation of the state (spatial, physical, functional, plant engineering, sanitation, environmental, structural) of the school to the reference regulatory requirements evaluated according to a suitable technical-regulatory criterion (Ci) (see Table 2), and the degree of correspondence between the types of services (Si) currently present in the school and those found in the urban context in which the building to be renovated is located.

Using an algebraic-linear formulation, the Li parameter can be expressed through the following mathematical function:

$$\mathbf{L}\_{i} = \mathbf{p}\_{i} \ (\mathbf{C}\_{i}, \mathbf{S}\_{i}) \tag{1}$$

In the following, for each Li concerning the structural, plant engineering, sanitary, environmental, and spatial-functional aspects of the building and the services currently present in the school, the corresponding scoring system is illustrated according to the scale of values from 1 to 6. For each Li, especially for those referring to the technical-regulatory aspects, the measurement parameters considered are such that it is possible to use a qualitative evaluation approach. For the evaluation of technical and plant engineering aspects of the sector, for which it will be necessary to take into account the act of implementing the planning of interventions to be carried out on the existing building, it is mandatory to take into account a judgment expressed through more detailed design drawings drawn up by technical professionals in the fields of seismic adjustment, energy, and plant engineering that give quantitative information. In the case of this work, aimed at providing an evaluation methodology to support the definition and planning of sustainable projects as compatible with the physical-spatial apparatus of the school building, also with a view to encouraging a more correct completion of the procedures for obtaining public funding, an evaluation methodology of a qualitative type is proposed. The use of a parameter L of reference allows us to express the level of correspondence between the state of affairs of the school building and the regulatory requirements to be complied with in the design phase. In particular, for each evaluation index:

a) the value of the parameter Lf is assigned on the basis of the increase and decrease in the surface index deriving from the direct survey of school spaces (internal and external) (If) with respect to the parameter of law If\*. Figure 2 below shows the extremes of the incremental and decremental intervals (ΔIf), expressed in percentages, defined starting from the If\* value and the average Li\_f score to be assigned to the i-*th* space according to the corresponding ΔIfi.

**Figure 2.** Scale of evaluation for the assignment of the score to the parameter Lf. If\* is the value of law parameter of reference. It is the relative zero in the proposed scale of value.

b) With regard to the structural aspect, the corresponding evaluation index (Ls) is measured according to the number of rooms, used for teaching and not, distributed on each floor of the school building, which at the time of the on-site inspection are unusable and risky for the safety of school users. Figure 3 below shows the interval extremes, expressed as a percentage, established on the basis of the number of currently unusable environments (Nai) defined with respect to the total number of spaces (Ntot) present on each school level, and the average score to be assigned, according to the values scale [1–6], in descending order on the basis of the number of impassable spaces by the persons surveyed at the time of the inspection.

**Figure 3.** Evaluation scale for the assignment of the score to the parameter Ls.

c) As far as fire safety is concerned, the corresponding evaluation index (La) is measured taking into account the obligation deriving from the law (Law 81/2019) to provide each environment with appropriate fire protection devices (e.g., fire extinguishers, which are not exhaustive) with particular performance characteristics. In particular, the attribution of a high, or low, numerical value to the *La* index can be related to the frequency (in percentage terms) of spaces in correspondence with each floor of the school building, in which the presence, or absence, of fire extinguishers or other devices for fire risk prevention is found, compared to the total number of rooms on the same floor. Figure 4 below shows the reference diagram for the assignment of the score to the parameter (La) as a function of the frequency of the rooms without fire-fighting devices (Ne) compared to the total number (Ntot) of spaces on the i-*th* floor.

**Figure 4.** Scale of evaluation for the assignment of the score to the parameter La.

d) With reference, instead, to the hygienic-sanitary aspect, it is possible to refer to the possible presence of superficial condensation inside the spaces specifically destined to the carrying out of didactic activities. Similar to the previous evaluation indexes described above, the value assumed by Li-s is related to the number of rooms on each floor within which there are forms of surface condensation (Ns) compared to the total spaces (Ntot) on the i-th floor.

Figure 5 shows the scale of the scores (from 1 to 6) and the corresponding intervals of the measurement parameter considered (Ns/Ntot) expressed as a percentage.

**Figure 5.** Evaluation scale for the assignment of the score to the parameter Li-s.

With reference, instead, to the evaluation of the congruence level between the services currently offered through the use of the internal environments of the building with those present in the analysis buffer (with a radius of 1000 m), a qualitative score from 1 to 6 is attributed to the corresponding evaluation index (Lser) according to the number of similar services found in the urban area of interest

and the relative distance (included in the analysis buffer of 1000 m) measured with respect to the point where the building is located. Figure 6 shows the scale of values from 1 to 6 according to the distance of the i-th service from the school. The maximum distance is assumed to be 1000 m, as indicated in Appendix C of Circular n◦ 425/1967.

**Figure 6.** Scale of evaluation for the assignment of the score to the parameter Lser.

3.2.2. Identification of the Methods of Actions and Types of Interventions to Be Implemented in the Event of Non-Compliance with the Minimum Regulatory Requirements Regarding Security and Physical-Functional Management of the School Space

Following the Li measurement operation, the intensity of the intervention to be carried out for the overall requalification of the school is identified, also taking into account the characteristics (in terms of existing services) of the urban context in which the school is located. In order to encourage requalification practices according to an integrated logic, it is necessary to jointly consider both the actions of spatial reorganization of the didactic and laboratory environments (where the value of the minimum surface endowment per students for each environment is not satisfied), and the physical interventions aimed at adapting the school to the reference regulations, both of enhancement and/or integration of the services currently offered and/or potentially to be added to the existing ones.

From this perspective, three macro-types of intervention are outlined (Total Renovation, Regulatory Compliance, Distributional Challenges), which can be implemented in order to fully upgrade existing school buildings.

Total Renovation (TR) is carried out when the school needs substantial interventions in terms of both structure, plant engineering, health and hygiene, management and use of space for teaching, and integration of new services for the community. In the case of existing school buildings, when the date of construction is prior to the year in which the first anti-seismic regulations were issued, it goes without saying that it is mandatory to carry out preliminary consolidation and adaptation work on the structure in order to ensure the safety of direct and indirect users of the school.

Regulatory Compliance (RC) occurs when it is necessary to act on the school building in order to adapt it to some legal requirements regarding seismic risk, fire prevention, energy requalification, indoor quality improvement, together with a remodeling and re-functionalization of the internal and external spaces at the service of the school building and enhancement and/or integration of additional services identified according to the characteristics (supply/demand) of the analysis scope.

The Distributional Challenge (DC) is carried out in the event that it is necessary to carry out a complete and/or partial reorganization and redefinition of the intended use of the internal and/or external school spaces, and the correspondence between the structural-implant and hygienic-sanitary state of the school with the regulatory requirements that must be considered in the planning phase of the requalification interventions is verified.

It is possible to associate the identification of the intervention methods previously described (Total Renovation, Regulatory Compliance, Distributional Challenge) with a synthetic reference index (Ki). This index allows us to express the level of intensity of the action type that needs to be implemented to upgrade the school, from the point of view of both functional and structural-implantistic-hygienic-sanitary (Kt) factors, as well as in terms of services offered to the public (Kser). Both Kt and Kser are obtained by algebraically aggregating the corresponding Li values previously specified in Section 3.2.1.

The Ki parameter is obtained by means of a mathematical formulation such as:

$$\text{IK} = \sum \text{Li} = \sum \text{Pi}\_{\text{Pi}}(\text{C}\_{\text{i}}, \text{S}\_{\text{i}}) \tag{2}$$

The Ki intervals for each intervention mode are shown in Table 3.

**Table 3.** Range of values of the Ki parameter and corresponding switching modes.


Figure 7 below illustrates a double entry scheme according to which it is possible to identify the intervention mode (TC, RC, DC) referring to both the system of services and the technical-implantistic-hygienic-sanitary one on the basis of the corresponding score of Li parameter. The proposed diagram shows on the abscissa and ordinate axis the intervals of values, respectively referred to Kt and Kser, which identify the proposed macro-categories of intervention.

**Figure 7.** Double-entry diagram supporting the identification of the main intervention modalities for the integrated requalification of existing school buildings.

In Section 4, the proposed evaluation methodology is applied to the case study for the redevelopment of the *Torquato Tasso* classical high school located in the historic center of Rome (Italy).

### **4. Case Study**

We intended to apply the proposed evaluation method considering the project of redevelopment, recovery and conservation of the school located in the historic center of Rome in Italy. The building is made of three institutes: Middle School, High School and Scientific High School. The methodology in Section 3 is tested on the part of the building relating to *Torquato Tasso* classical high school. Figure 8 shows (a) a historical picture of the building part where *Torquato Tasso* classical high school is, and (b) the façade on Sicilia Road where the principal entrance to the school is.

**a. Historical picture of the school building**  *Source*: https://www.geoitaliani.it/2017/01/liceotasso.html (last accessed on 12 January 2020)

**b. Main entrance to school by Sicilia Road**  *Source*: http://www.romatoday.it/formazione/scuola/ migliori-licei-roma-2019.html (last accessed on 12 January 2020)

**Figure 8.** Pictures of *Torquato Tasso* classical high school.

It should be specified that the data on the student population in the last five years, the information on the educational offer of the institute in question, as well as the survey of the geometric dimensions of the spaces used for teaching were obtained by carrying out some investigation campaigns in the school.
