Extending, integrating and recovering: tools for the architectural and social rehabilitation of the Augusta slaughterhouse

Buildings of the past are an immense heritage that must be preserved and passed on to future generations. Contemporary society cannot support a use linked to the historical and cultural value but needs a new function and interventions aimed at enhancing it. Recovery project applies to the existing built in many ways. One of the most important is the use of sociological and participatory analysis: it is a tool that values community demands and transforms them into project requirements, The value added of the project. The research has seen the participatory methodology and social analysis applied to an urban redevelopment project in Augusta, providing reuse hypotheses based on the real needs of the user, The social dynamics, the potential of the territory and buildings. The case study concerns an area in the district of Terravecchia, on the edge of the historic center of Augusta, in which there are buildings of historical importance, but also many schools and public buildings. In particular, the social rehabilitation project was applied to the building used for the slaughter of meat, built between 1906 and 1908, on the ruins of a warehouse belonging to the ancient Recipe of Malta. The applied methodology, based on surveys of urban layout, green systems, socio-economic, housing and schools, It proposes the adoption of innovative attractive and supportive functions of the school system, to recover an important historic building and provide newly designed functions for young people. Trials demonstrate that community-driven information is applied to the recovery project and produces substantial qualitative benefits for users: satisfaction, liveability, well-being.