The single hall churches in the historic centre of Catania (Italy): a cognitive method behind the design of sustainable refurbishment

The several churches in the historic urban centres are essential documents of the cities’ history, often forgotten, in bad condition or disused. The courses of decay of these buildings are raising the degradation of urban and social fabric in which the churches are placed. These problems, related to an inefficient maintenance or lack thereof, mainly affect the churches of brotherhoods, a particular subset of places of worship, usually with a single hall and typologically and technologically similar traits. This research proposes a cognitive method that will be essential to the following design actions on the single hall churches, analysing the brotherhood churches in the historic centre of Catania (Italy). The goal is to protect and preserve this built heritage, for a conscious reuse and a sustainable refurbishment that does not forget the energy performances. We highlight how the energy assessment systems, already analysed in other studies in this area for different building typologies, often overlook historical/artistic instances and non-residential use of buildings. This study emphasises the need to consider peculiar benchmarks already in the case history, reaching a correct recovery action. This action will be in keeping with the latest Charters for the Restoration and it will ensure a suitable energy improvement.