Search results for " Building Envelope"
showing 7 items of 17 documents
Insulating Building Components Made from a Mixture of Waste and Vegetal Materials: Thermal Characterization of Nine New Products
2021
Nowadays, energy efficiency and sustainability are the fulcra of building policies. These policies promote the use of new technologies and materials that can reduce the primary energy involved and the environmental costs of construction, guarantying at the same time a high level of comfort for the building’s occupants. Synergy between previous construction techniques and the use of new materials should be pursued by employing materials with a low environmental impact and optimal thermal insulation properties. Within this framework, new materials derived from the agriculture sector, and waste or recycling products from the industrial/agricultural sectors have been studied. The aim of this pa…
Environmental assessment of a new building envelope material derived from urban agriculture wastes : the case of the tomato plants stems
2023
Abstract Purpose Decarbonizing cities is one of today’s biggest challenges. In this regard, particular attention has been paid on improving the environmental performance of buildings. In this framework, this work consists in assessing the environmental impact of an innovative building envelope component derived from urban agriculture (UA) wastes. In fact, rooftop UA seems to be a possible solution to the rising food demand due to increasing urban demographic growth. Consequently, rooftop UA wastes need to be treated in sustainable ways. Methods This study aims to determine the carbon footprint and embodied energy of a new infill wall material, derived from UA wastes produced by a building r…
Pannello precompresso di vetromattoni assemblati a secco per la realizzazione di involucri traslucidi
2012
L’invenzione riguarda la realizzazione di un pannello di vetromattoni montati “a secco” -da impiegare per la realizzazione di involucri edilizi traslucidi anche nel caso di edifici alti- che è in grado di rispondere adeguatamente alle sollecitazioni orizzontali (quali quelle dovute a vento e sisma) grazie all’applicazione della tecnica della precompressione mondirezionale. Per offrire una risposta ai limiti imposti dalla tecnica di assemblaggio tradizionale dei vetromattoni (“ad umido”), l’applicazione della precompressione consente, infatti, di dare ai pannelli preassemblati “a secco” una rigidezza adeguata anche in direzione normale al loro piano di posa, sfruttando le buone caratteristic…
“Building Integrated Photovoltaics and DSSC-Glassblocks"
2012
According to many market analysts, Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) represents the future of photovoltaic (PV) industry as well as one of the strategies for the achievement of zero-energy building standards and UE goals for the next years. Dye-sensitised solar cell (DSSC) is a low-cost and very versatile solar technology, offering a wide range of possibilities in terms of colour, transparency and design: hence DSSC are particularly suited for BIPV and could give a big contribution in this direction. Starting from those considerations, this paper will show the first results of a research aimed at the integration of DSSC with the glassblock for the construction of multifunctional tran…
The role of technological culture in the theoretical dichotomy between technique and form/Il ruolo della cultura tecnologica nella dicotomia teorica …
2017
La cultura tecnologica spiega il rapporto tra forma e tecnica basandosi su una dimensione concreta ed esistenziale. «La dimensione esistenziale “verità” si manifesta attraverso la storia, ma il suo significato trascende la situazione storica. Tale concretizzazione dipende in genere dal come siano le cose fatte, ossia dalle forme e dalla tecnologia» (Schulz, 1979). In tal ottica il saggio esplora teorie e prassi della cultura tecnologica sul rapporto tra materia e forma e tra architettura e tecnica, a partire dal concetto di tecnologia: dall’evoluzione storica delle tecniche e dei sistemi costruttivi al valore dell’innovazione, sondando nelle problematiche ideologiche, sociali e materiali ch…
Innovative, Translucent and Multi-functional Components for the Building Envelope: technological and performance optimization
2017
The paper describes the actions aimed at the technology and performance optimization of an innovative, multi-functional building component made of precast and pre-stressed glass blocks useful for the construction of sustainable building envelopes able to reduce the energy consumption and to produce clean energy from the sun. The design optimization of different sub-components and the choice of the right materials for guaranteeing their good response in terms of mechanical resistance, thermal and acoustic insulation, light transmission, electricity production, integration with other components, dimensional coordination, are particularly described.
Rain on building façades
2006
Rain is one of the main causes of moisture damage to the building envelope, leading to problems such as rain penetration, frost and salt damage, discoloration by leaching, soiling by differential washing, etc. The potential of deterioration due to rain depends on the façade material, the junction of building envelope components, the overall geometry of the building, but also the presence or absence of modulation on the façade. In this paper, Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are used to analyze these effects and illustrated with examples taken in Sicily. It is firstly shown that buildings protect themselves from driving rain due to the wind blocking effect, but that façade open…