L'architettura del Novecento e i concorsi di progettazione

The new Code of Public Contracts is strongly characterised by the need for the contraction of timeframes imposed by the PNRR, whose exceptional availability of funds has imposed such accelerations as to constitute a challenge both for the capacity of administrative structures to design and contract, which are often very depleted of technicians trained in the new procedures, and also for the possibility of sending projects to execution based on solid planning. Personal experience as a member of evaluation commissions for design competitions, of which the case of the cotton mill in Partanna (Palermo) is illustrated, bears witness to what has just been asserted. Ensuring a proper preliminary investigation of the preliminary design documents is therefore a due act towards the quality heritage of the twentieth century that will be the legacy that the present generation will hand over to the future. As are ensuring proper training and sharing as much as possible with the communities that can, and must, protect its consequent management. Enhancing knowledge on modern buildings, whose monumental value is not yet unanimously shared, means refining new methods of 'planned conservation' and contribute to refining the approach to pre-existing buildings with the same attention as that paid to traditional architecture.