37º IAHS World Congress on Housing: - Universidad de Cantabria

XXXVII <strong>IAHS</strong><strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> on HousingOctober 26 – 29, 2010, Santander, SpainCODE: 932EXPLORATION OF EXIGENCIAL DIAGNOSISMETHODOLOGY APPLIED TO BUILDING ENVELOPEREHABILITATIONJoão Carlos Gonçalves LanzinhaC-Made Centre of Materials and Building Technologies, Civil Engineering and Architecture Department,Faculty of Engineering, University of Beira Interior, Calçada Fonte do Lameiro, Covilhã, Portugale-mail: joao.lanzinha@ubi.ptKey words: Rehabilitation of buildings, Diagnostic methods; Performance-based assessmentAbstractA lack of investment in maintenance and conservation has resulted in the decay of thehousing stock in Portugal, a situation exacerbated by failure to define and implement publicpolicies designed to encourage landlords to preserve the constructed heritage in our cities(which is of incalculable economic and cultural value). When the decision is taken tointervene in a building that shows significant signs of pathology, rehabilitation work shouldnot go ahead until a detailed diagnostic study has been performed. The resulting report shouldclearly identify problems encountered, establish their causes and suggest an interventionmethod designed to ensure that certain basic requirements are met. This paper aims tocontribute to the preparation of such diagnoses by presenting the outline of a new methodknown as Exigential Diagnosis Applied to the Rehabilitation of Buildings, supported by acomputer application called MEXREB. It also analyses the results of a validation study inwhich this methodology was applied to a series of 39 buildings (498 individual householdscontaining a total of 1086 residents).37º <strong>IAHS</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> On Housing Science 306