The recovery of disused and decaying rural buildings aims to limit further land consumption, preserve the historical identity and cultural value of this heritage, and enhance the territory through the promotion of sustainable rural tourism in otherwise marginal and socially inactive areas.
A key preliminary step in building recovery projects is the study of the typologies and distinctive construction features within the area of interest, which in this research is the Colli Euganei (Padua).
The current condition of the buildings, resulting from natural deterioration and interventions carried out, along with the potential presence of historical-architectural constraints, guide the evaluation and validation of the Nested Building technique. In fact, this technique seeks to recover the built heritage by preserving the morphological and typological features of façades, which stand as testaments to the territorial and historical context being examined, while adhering to principles of minimal intervention, reversibility, and legibility. The comparison of different solutions and materials led this research to select cross-laminated timber panel as solution for several reasons, including site management, structural performance, thermal and acoustic behaviour, fire resistance, and intervention reversibility.
This paper presents the potential applications of the Nested Building technique through an exemplary case study, namely the rural annexes of villa Ca’ Barbaro, located in Baone (Padua).
