PSI - Issue 44

4

M. Peroni et al./ Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2022) 000 – 000

Marco Peroni et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 44 (2023) 1148–1155

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Fig. 3. The metal frame of the transept during and after the works.

These metal frames (which were made of double IPE300 profiles calendared according to a double radius of curvature to follow the course of the lowered arche to support the upper masonry even during assembly) were then left exposed and integrated into the restoration work of the plasters and stuccoes of this new transept. A further important consolidation work, again in this area of the palace, was carried out on the central cross vault made of sheet brick and supported in part by an incongruous wooden beam that was probably part of a previous subdivision of the rooms. This was accomplished by intradoses consolidation with unidirectional galvanized steel fiber bands embedded in the new plaster and arranged it along the main ribs of the cross vault, connected with through bows through the vault and anchored to the upper slab that had been cast in a previous invasive and nonreversible intervention in the 1980s. In order to insert the bandages in the proper positions, the present relief stuccoes had to be partially reconstructed. The same bandages were anchored at the base of the vault always with long-diameter flakes so as to engage in the lateral masonry. Also part of this first functional excerpt was the construction of the new external volume at the rear of the building, housing the emergency exit stairs and a steel elevator that allows the elimination of architectural barriers in accessing the upper floors of the building (main floor), which over time had been substantially inhibited due to the demolition in 1908 of the ancient monumental staircase, housed within a volume called "Raffanara" and which some recent studies and research have identified as the oldest and most original part of the St. James factory.