Design for Manufacture and Assembly for Urban Regeneration: The Case Study of the Genoa Cornigliano Market

The adoption of strategies for mitigating and adapting to the effects of climate change in the construction sector has triggered a series of innovations affecting all aspects of the building process (i.e., from design to construction and management). Ongoing research into efficient methods for designing and constructing buildings aims to enhance on-site efficiency while optimising time and costs. Recent research has unveiled new processes, frequently drawing inspiration from the manufacturing sector. A notable example is Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA), a system based on a detailed design that classifies individual elements and shifts most construction processes to industrial facilities, leaving only assembly operations for on-site execution. The DfMA approach has redefined traditional concepts like prefabrication and modular architecture, pushing them to new frontiers for better control over the construction process. Despite its potential, DfMA remains underutilised in the Italian context, with only recent applications, predominantly for existing structures. This paper investigates the potential of a specific DfMA technique, Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PPVC), applied to the regeneration of a historic structure in a deep retrofitting project without direct intervention on elements under heritage protection: the Cornigliano market in Genoa. The project employed a BIM-based design and factory-produced PPVC modules, achieving over 50%-time savings and a 59% cost reduction compared to traditional approaches.