BUILDING PATHOLOGY AND DIAGNOSTIC

case study: HOTEL ALBERIvia lungo lario Isonzo –LECCO-

STUDENTS:Janaina Gerde MunizGerardo Diosdado EspinosaMarco Dell’Oro

LOCATION

Our case study is situaded on the lakeside of Lecco. Despite it’s a new building, only ten years old, it present many and different interesting deffects.

LOCATION

The Hotel Alberi has been built attached to two other building and it’s composed by five floors over the ground level. In the ground floor we can find the hall of the hotel and a small dining room. Upstair there are four floors where are located the rooms of the guests, and the last floor, the 5°, is used by the the owner's family. There is also a basement floor, used like garages and services facilities.

LOCATION & MATERIALS

The Hotel has been built with a typical reinforced concrete structure, the vertical enclosure on the external side of the EAST facade are made by hole brick and a renderind layer, while inside the finishing is made with gypsum board and wallpaper. On the other side, the WEST facade that look at the landscape of the lake, the finishing is made with stone tiles, hanged at the reinforced concrete structure with metallic joints.

FLOOR PLANSGround floor plan

First floor plan

FLOOR PLANSSecond, Third and Fourth Floors Plan (Type floor)

Fifth floor plan

FLOOR PLANS

Basement floor plan

MATERIALS

Some example of materials used in the building process of the Hotel Alberi:- the horizontal structures are made with reinforced

concrete combines with hole bricks, in order to have a resistant but light structure.

- the vertical structures are made with reinforced concrete pillar

- the ceilings and the inside layer of the walls are made with gypsum boards, applied on a light metallic structure.

- the floors is finished with parquet, glued at the layer below

MAPPING

East facade

MAPPING

West facade

Under the left-bottom window there is a line presenting chromatic alteration

The painted central column presents diffuse over all its surface bleaching of the paint

MAPPING AND FAILURE IDENTIFICATION-east facade-

MAPPING AND FAILURE IDENTIFICATION-east facade-

The center decorative column presents cracking on different places, which apparently will eventually become loss of mass.At the lower part of the façade are shown 3 horizontal cracks, on the whole width of the building, and apparently situated on the wall-slab connections.Also in the connection between the slab and the porch columns there are deeper cracks, presenting already exfoliation on the paint and loss of mass on the left column.

In correspondence with cracks and haircrack we can see exfoliation of the paint and loss of mass

MAPPING AND FAILURE IDENTIFICATION-east facade-

As we saw on the east façade, also on this side we can see that the central column present color bleaching, diffuse along all the surface, in some point we can observe an exfoliation of the paint

MAPPING AND FAILURE IDENTIFICATION-west facade-

Column on the main façade, presenting a vertical cracking an all it’s height, and it’s located basically in the join between finishing.View of the main façade where it can be noticed again a vertical crack between the finishing. The crack continues to the second level, presenting also loss of mass and chromatic alteration on the left side. Also on the main central column are visible very small but diffuse crack

MAPPING AND FAILURE IDENTIFICATION-west facade-

BASEMENT FLOOR

We can see a detachment of the painting and rendering leading to a pulverization of the wall. Probably caused by the humidity in the basement floor.

Loss of mass with pulverization:

As seen in the picture, the cracks are only in the joints of the structural parts. These cracks

were probably caused by the movement of the site while some construction works were done

nearby.

Crack – missing structural joints:

FAILURE PATTERN IDENTIFICATION-interior degradation pattern-

By the pattern of the cracks, the stains and the pulverization in this ceiling, we can say that they were probably caused by water capillarity.

Crack of the painting, pulverization and stain:

BASEMENT FLOOR

FAILURE PATTERN IDENTIFICATION-interior degradation pattern-

FIRST TO FOURTH FLOOR

In this case, the loss of mass appears in the shape of a crack in the painting, leading also to a delamination process.

Crack and Delamination of the painting:

Case of blistering in the painting of the gypsum ceiling, probably caused by water

capillarity.

Blistering:

FAILURE PATTERN IDENTIFICATION-interior degradation pattern-

The ceiling surface became darker, due to iron oxides and water etc.

Staining:

The crack in the wall here causes a blistering at the wallpaper. This crack is also reflected

in the outside and it was probably caused by the movement of the site while some

construction works were done nearby.

Cracking – blistering of the wallpaper:

FIRST TO FOURTH FLOOR

Cracks – missing structural joints:

As seen in these pictures, the cracks are only in the joints of the structural parts. These cracks

are also reflected in the exterior of the building and were probably caused by the movement of

the site while some construction works were done nearby.

FIRST TO FOURTH FLOOR

Cracking:

Here the cracks appear in the openings of the walls, from the top to the bottom direction. These cracks were probably caused by the movement of the site while some construction works were done nearby.

FIRST TO FOURTH FLOOR