ABSTRACT
The May 20–29, 2012 earthquakes have severely hit the rural area of the Po' valley in the Emilia-Romagna Region, damaging several buildings in the agricultural and agro-industry sector. This chapter presents the case of a rural building rebuilt in Emilia adopting this construction technique and describes the application of the design method, developed by means of experimental and numerical research, carried out through two research projects conducted by the University of Padova and University of Bologna. It has been therefore developed a construction technique, similar to the traditional one, with lightweight and deformable roof, but based on reinforced masonry walls, developing a design process that considers the P-∆ effects. The reinforced masonry walls are made by using vertically perforated clay blocks. The particular geometry of the block allows realizing the corners using only this block, moreover the block can be easily put in place after the vertical reinforcement has been already positioned.
