The Former Psychiatric Hospital in Rovigo is a significant example of early-twentieth-century healthcare architecture developed according to the “small village” model, in which pavilions were organised within a planned system of therapeutic gardens and agricultural areas. Prolonged abandonment has led to a progressive loss of legibility of the original architectural and landscape structure, which is still readable through abandonment-driven ecological processes. The research adopts a multiscale knowledge-based approach integrating archival investigation and in situ surveys, with Pavilion No. 5 as a pilot case. The evaluation of the state of conservation is structured through analytical matrices of criticalities, developed through the decomposition of units into construction elements, with particular attention to drainage systems, terraces, and roofing layers, to understand cause–and–effect relationships in degradation processes and to orient conservation strategies. Detailed architectural analysis of the pavilion provides the basis for transferring evaluations to the scale of the entire complex. Multispectral photogrammetry enables the characterisation of the vegetation and the identification of degraded or collapsed roofs. The integration of architectural and landscape data defines a conservation- oriented approach in which the site is interpreted as an evolving system within a continuous present that mediates between historical configurations and possible future transformations.
Multiscale Knowledge for a Conservation-Oriented Approach. The Abandoned Landscape of the Former Psychiatric Hospital in Rovigo.
Emanuela Sorbo
;Tommaso Moretto;
2026-01-01
Abstract
The Former Psychiatric Hospital in Rovigo is a significant example of early-twentieth-century healthcare architecture developed according to the “small village” model, in which pavilions were organised within a planned system of therapeutic gardens and agricultural areas. Prolonged abandonment has led to a progressive loss of legibility of the original architectural and landscape structure, which is still readable through abandonment-driven ecological processes. The research adopts a multiscale knowledge-based approach integrating archival investigation and in situ surveys, with Pavilion No. 5 as a pilot case. The evaluation of the state of conservation is structured through analytical matrices of criticalities, developed through the decomposition of units into construction elements, with particular attention to drainage systems, terraces, and roofing layers, to understand cause–and–effect relationships in degradation processes and to orient conservation strategies. Detailed architectural analysis of the pavilion provides the basis for transferring evaluations to the scale of the entire complex. Multispectral photogrammetry enables the characterisation of the vegetation and the identification of degraded or collapsed roofs. The integration of architectural and landscape data defines a conservation- oriented approach in which the site is interpreted as an evolving system within a continuous present that mediates between historical configurations and possible future transformations.
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