The Colosseum, perhaps the most famous arena in the world, will return to its original function thanks to a major restoration project ready in 2023. Design and restoration have been awarded to an Italian excellence, Milan Ingegneria. A Venetian company, based in Milan and Venice, with great experience also in the field of conservative restoration. Milan won the tender launched by Invitalia for the realization of this project. “Ambitious - as emphasized by the Minister for Culture Dario Franceschini - which will help the conservation and protection of archaeological structures by recovering the original image of the Colosseum. In addition, it also restores its nature as a complex stage machine ”. The Colosseum has been a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1980.
An ambitious project, also because the structure will be extremely light and completely reversible, as the designers ensure. The conservative restoration foresees the construction of a new floor of the arena which will cover all the delicate underground structures, the underground, giving back to the Colosseum, perhaps one of the best known monuments in the world and most representative of Italy in the world, its original appearance. It will also give the opportunity to see, and get an idea of, all that set of structures and mechanisms that in ancient times made the stage action "alive" during the games in this extraordinary amphitheater. The Colosseum is Unesco World Heritage Site since 1980.
The new Milan Ingegneria platform will be located at the level of the Flavian era
The new platform, as Milan Ingegneria explains, will be at the level it had at the time of the Flavians. Resuming the geometry of the original plane. "The beams rest on the existing masonry, without mechanical anchors, without any invasive impact". The walking surface will be made of mobile panels with a carbon fiber inside. The panels in turn will be “Clad in Accoya wood. This material is obtained through a process of acetylation of the wood fibers to increase its resistance and duration ".
A sustainable choice (the wood comes from certified forests) which avoids the killing of valuable species. It is a Green and High Tech project. Thanks to a “sophisticated roto-translation mechanism of the panels, which are the components of the platform, it allows you to view the basement, allowing ventilation and natural lighting”.
From the Palladian Basilica in Vicenza to the Palazzo degli Innocenti in Florence: the great restorations of the Venetian society that will revive the Colosseum
The intervention that will revive the Colosseum will increase its conservation and protection. And he will return it for its use compatible with its immense architectural and archaeological value. The idea was ideally started seven years ago by the archaeologist Franceco Manacorda and the minister Dario Franceschini. Since 2015 the Colosseum was part of the Great Cultural Heritage Projects with a loan of 18,5 million euros. The call was launched last December. Now, the victory by the Milan Ingegneria studio and other partners brings this ambitious project into its operational phase.
Innovative construction techniques, use of appropriate materials and very refined analysis methodologies are the characteristics of this important restoration project which will restore the original image of the Colosseum arena and its functioning. Thanks to a an Italian company that has an important experience in conservative restorations and more. Among the many interventions of Milan Engineering there are, among others, the restoration of the Palladian Basilica in Vicenza, that of the Palazzo degli Innocenti in Florence. But also the Torre dei Piloti in the port of Genoa designed by Renzo Piano, the Emergency pediatric surgery hospital in Kampala in Uganda, the African History Museum in Senegal.
(ph credit: Milan Engineering, Mibac)
