Recovery and reuse of abandoned buildings for student housing: A case study in Catania, Italy

Over the past 15 years, housing supply for university students has increased significantly given the considerable attention provided by national institutions on the issue of student housing. In Italy, however, only approximately 4% of students live in university residences. Since 2001, interventions on existing buildings have accounted for approximately 60% of the overall measures proposed for new university residences; these interventions comprise most of the available public economic resources. The possibility of recovering and reusing existing buildings for university residences is remarkable for the city of Catania because most of the students are enrolled in university courses located within the historic city center. Moreover, abandoned buildings are currently a significant part of the city׳s architectural heritage. This research aims to develop an articulated and integrated set of frameworks to support the various phases of the design process for recovering and then reusing existing buildings as university residences. The proposed approach applies existing dimensional standards and environmental sustainability principles to a constructed building using traditional techniques.