BUILDING PATHOLOGY AND DIAGNOSTIC
case study: HOTEL ALBERI
via lungo lario Isonzo –LECCO-
STUDENTS:
Janaina Gerde Muniz
Gerardo Diosdado Espinosa
Marco 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 PLANS
Ground floor plan
First floor plan
FLOOR PLANS
Second, 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
MAPPING AND FAILURE IDENTIFICATION
-east facadeUnder 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-
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.
MAPPING AND FAILURE IDENTIFICATION
-east facade-
In correspondence with
cracks and haircrack we
can see exfoliation of the
paint and loss of mass
MAPPING AND FAILURE IDENTIFICATION
-west 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
FAILURE PATTERN IDENTIFICATION
-interior degradation patternBASEMENT FLOOR
Loss of mass with pulverization:
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.
Crack – missing structural joints:
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.
FAILURE PATTERN IDENTIFICATION
-interior degradation patternBASEMENT FLOOR
Crack of the painting, pulverization and stain:
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.
FAILURE PATTERN IDENTIFICATION
-interior degradation patternFIRST TO FOURTH FLOOR
Crack and Delamination of the painting:
In this case, the loss of mass appears in the
shape of a crack in the painting, leading also to
a delamination process.
Blistering:
Case of blistering in the painting of the
gypsum ceiling, probably caused by water
capillarity.
FIRST TO FOURTH FLOOR
Staining:
The ceiling surface became darker, due to iron
oxides and water etc.
Cracking – blistering of the wallpaper:
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.
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.