The basement of the Municipal Building can be reached by two staircases placed symmetrically near the elevator shaft as well as by an entrance on Largo Carlo Felice. The floor, which has an area of about 1,300 square meters, has been used until now as a storage and technical room.
The area is punctuated by exposed brick arches, treated with a surface glaze.
The plasters were peeling in several places, especially in a strip about 80 cm from the floor level, but also, near the completely buried parts, in the vaults. The exposed brick arches showed disintegration of the fictile material and mortar, and salt efflorescence was present throughout the area. The intervention, which affects the entire basement room, assumes a part intended for acceptance and offices near the access on the Largo, the remaining area is allocated to spaces for archiving, consultation and technical rooms to serve the historical archive, allowing the full use of the spaces specifically intended for the layout.
The intervention includes the demolition of all superstructures affixed, over the years, to the original facility. The fully restored rooms will house an exhibition-type historical archive, in which documents will not be stacked but will be displayed and, by means of multimedia display systems, their consultation will also be possible. In these spaces it will be possible to find the most recent documents of the city’s history, starting from the 18th century. To avoid damage to the papers on display, the intervention includes an air conditioning and dehumidification system that will ensure, inside the rooms, the microclimate most appropriate for their preservation.
