A Multiplex Conversion of a Historical Cinema

The cultural building Heritage is a valuable trace of the past social life in a city. One peculiar typology of building is the theatre or, more recently, the cinema. Within this indoor space, the community of people actively live an emotional feeling over the time causing memories linked to not only the show itself, but also to the place. Furthermore, cinemas are often located in city centers where buildings are historical-oriented form the architectural point of view and, for this reason, their added-value needs to be recognized. Currently, the modernization and the improvement of old cinemas is becoming an interesting topic in the field of civil engineering. In order to empathize this aspect, the structural strengthening for a multiplex conversion of an historical cinema is herein reported. The studied structure required a seismic joint (separating the masonry to the reinforced concrete structural bodies) and a severe strengthening of a very long span beam due to a relevant overloading (in seismic loads combination) caused by the new architectonical project. The numerical simulations demonstrated the validity of two bending strengthening systems (i.e. Fiber Reinforced Polymer-plate and Beton Plaquè) in terms of both load bearing capacity and maximum deflection. This overview is a part of a larger study in the way of a global structural interventions which will also involve the masonry members.