Hybridization of techniques between innovation and tradition. The first reinforced concrete construction in L’Aquila: the New Provincial Insane Asylum 1903-1916

The construction of the New Provincial Insane Asylum of L'Aquila according to the original project (1903-1916) represents the first application of reinforced concrete in civil buildings in the city of L'Aquila. The preliminary project of 1903 already contained precise indications about the construction system to be adopted: load-bearing masonry with reinforced concrete floors and Holz-cement roofing. It was a highly innovative solution when compared to the local technical culture, so much so that the Administration invited some of the most accredited specialized companies in Italy to participate in the private negotiation for the assignment of the works in reinforced concrete. The construction of the buildings of the New Insane Asylum is characterized precisely by the relationship between the masonry and the reinforced concrete. This relationship is much closer than what the separation of the contracts of the two categories of works might suggest and concerns at the same time the organizational and technical aspects. The presence of new actors on the construction site, the reinforced concrete specialists, affects the organization of the works and the internal structure of the traditional company. However, the technical complexification is not second to the organizational one. Reinforced concrete is integrated into the masonry by fragments of work and allies with it to create the statics of the building. From a static point of view, the knot becomes delicate and if the delicacy of the question had suggested the "tout béton" route as a logic, the alternative solution was, however, constituted by the specialization of masonry for the integration of reinforced concrete. Of this specialization, the buildings of the Insane Asylum probably represent a representative case of the Italian reality of the application of the new technique in ordinary constructions.