La riqualificazione energetica di un complesso di edilizia popolare d'autore Le case INCIS di Ridolfi: una sfida per i rivestimenti termoriflettenti The energy requalification of an author's social housing complex Ridolfi’s INCIS Houses: a challenge for heat-reflective coatings

After more than half a century since their construction, many buildings, complexes, and districts of affordable social housing require technical and performance enhancements to adapt to altered housing needs, also arisen from current environmental policy. The approach to their redevelopment must account for a multitude of factors: ranging from the creator’s value to the social, cultural and technological testimony of a construction system which characterised the post-war period; from the adoption of specific intervention methods to innovative materials aimed at preserving the expressive and material value of the structure; from the technical inadequacies in responding strategically to current regulations and assessing residents’ actual needs. In this paper, bearing in mind the historical and architectural value of Mario Ridolfi’s INCIS housing complex in Messina, adopted as a model for methodological experimentation, innovative products were analysed and compared to put forward an unconventional energetic refurbishment solution, according to current legislation, taking into account the fiscal incentive system favouring individual interventions combined with public financial support. The challenge concerns conciliating the prerogative of conserving the Modern, also when not conditional, and the pressing needs of performance adjustment imposed by energetic requirements, yet in practice implemented by the residents piecemeal.