Conservation and maintenance for an innovative building envelope: the RAI Auditorium in Naples

The research analyses the case of the RAI Production Centre in Naples, designed in the late 1950s by Renato Avolio De Martino, Raffaele Contigiani and Mario De Renzi. Over time, the building underwent extensive alterations, mainly due to production needs arising from the change in television filming systems. The impressive volume of the Auditorium was originally entirely clad with multi-faceted ceramic tiles. This cladding, which resulted in a refractive effect of natural light, decayed quickly. As a result, the ceramic cladding was partially removed and replaced with aluminium panels. The paper aims to develop design strategies for the rehabilitation of architectural and performance qualities of the building envelope, as well as for the maintenance planning, in order to improve the durability of the Technological System.