Different Design Approaches to Accessibility to Cultural Heritage: a Decalogue

Many and also different design approaches can be adopted to make cultural heritage accessible. These depend on the site being worked on, the solution being adopted and the functional result to be achieved. With the knowledge that there is not a standard solution, that a case by case basis evaluation is nec- essary and that it can always run into arbitrariness, in the present paper a ‘de alogue’ of design approaches, certain ones in opposition to one another, others similar to one each other albeit with different nuances, is proposed. The aim is not to produce a mere list of approaches, and certainly not to say that those proposed are comprehensive, on the contrary it is meant to highlight the complexity that the adoption of certain design solutions in a historic building brings. This complexity is linked both to the image, or to the aesthetic-compositional and perceptive aspects, as well as to the functionality related to its location and user-friendliness. However, the matter of the usability of cultural heritage, but in general of the built, is not only achievable, and however not completely satis- factory, with building interventions, but also through intangible equipment to facilitate the understanding (accessibility of the contents) of the property. In this perspective the ‘decalogue’ offers some possible approaches, sometimes co-present in the same projects, also those in opposition to one another, and this is to demonstrate that precast fixed solutions do not exist and the issue of the accessibility to cultural heritage requires an attitude which, even for ‘small’ interventions, is able to glean from the designing skills becoming an architectural project.