Search results for "Facade"
showing 10 items of 26 documents
PCM thermal storage design in buildings: Experimental studies and applications to solaria in cold climates
2017
Abstract As energy availability and demand often do not match, thermal energy storage plays a crucial role to take advantage of solar radiation in buildings: in particular, latent heat storage via phase-change material is particularly attractive due to its ability to provide high energy storage density. This paper analyzes the performance of a building-integrated thermal storage system to increase the energy performances of solaria in a cold climate. A wall opposing a highly glazed facade (south oriented) is used as thermal storage with phase change materials embedded in the wall. The study is based on both experimental and simulation studies. The concept considered is particularly suited t…
Use of finite element models for estimating thermal performance of façade-integrated solar thermal collectors
2016
Abstract Research on building-integrated solar thermal collectors is attracting increasingly more interest. Many efforts have been focused at the design level for obtaining specific building-orientated products, but there is a significant lack of standardised methods for evaluating how the efficiency of solar collectors changes when a wall is an integral part of the solar component itself. Generally speaking, experimental tests on integrated components are not easy to realise and are, in any case, expensive in terms of time and money. Physical and numerical methods can be utilised, but at the moment, there is no common approach. The present work addresses a method for the calculation of a b…
The Bell-Tower Facade: An Aseismic Device in Sicily Between the 12th and 18th Centuries
2014
Imposing tower facades with belfries in the last order were built in Sicily Italy, from the Middle Ages to the late Baroque period. Until the 16th century, this model, which was inspired by northern European examples, also had a parallelepiped forepart leaning against the facade, working as containment for the pressure imparted by the inner longitudinal arches on the front, and amplified in case of earthquakes. The lacking static efficiency of these early structures is demonstrated by collapses during the strong earthquakes that hit the island in the modern age. Despite numerous cases of destruction, the memory of some prototypes survived in Sicilian constructive memory through the elaborat…
Plaster ventilated façade system for renovating modern and ancient buildings. A CFD analysis
2021
In the past decades several researches have been related to energy saving and emissions reduction. The technologies that exploit passive natural ventilation, like ventilated roofs and fa ades, have been recognized as the effective methods to provide energy saving and comfort. Ventilated fa ades represent dry assembled coating systems for buildings, traditionally made of panels in different materials. Very few ventilated fa ade systems with plaster finishes are already present on the building market. The potentiality of their design solution can be considered, e.g., when an historic building has to be recovered, since they can enhance the energy efficiency of building without changing its ap…
Photovoltaic facade: Comparison of actual technologies
2017
This article aims to establish the economic contribution of a photovoltaic system placed on a façade of a building, replacing traditional elements such as windows and glass-cement walls with active elements. The aim is to compare the behavior of next-generation systems, which favor architectonical integration, with traditional ones. Two novel systems have been taken into account: a dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and blue and grey thin film silicon panels. Different generation systems have been tested and compared in terms of efficiency and fill factor.
Per ricostruire la Palazzata seicentesca di Messina
2014
L’idea di aprire la città murata di Messina al suo porto, sostituendo la cortina medievale con un prospetto architettonico, è una sfida politica e militare lanciata dalla città alla Corona di Spagna. Il suo esordio ha precisa origine nel 1556, quando il viceré Juan de Vega e lo scultore architetto Giovannangelo Montorsoli avviano l’uso urbano della banchina portuale con la realizzazione del fonte di Nettuno, ispirata dalla opportunità di “passeggiare” sul molo. Negli ultimi anni del Cinquecento Jacopo Del Duca convince inizialmente gli amministratori ad abbattere le mura per costruire il Palazzo del Banco, poi a trasformare l’intera cortina in un prospetto con unico modello iterato. Nel 162…
Façade Solar Control and Shading Strategies for Buildings in the Mediterranean Region
2020
With the pressing need for holistic solutions that can help in overcoming the imminent environmental and resources crises, a call for the conservation of natural resources and sustainable strategies is needed. Sustainable strategies allow for the mitigation against the impact of climate change on the environment while, simultaneously, seeking the health and comfort of users. Another environmental issue that is worthy of the attention of the scientific research community is the reduction of resources consumption, through the implementation of sustainable development concepts and the use of renewable sources of energy generation. These two aforementioned paradigms are both intrinsic in nature…
Gli Alliata di Villafranca e Salaparuta. La facciata torre della chiesa madre di Salaparuta
2021
The contribution traces the story relating to the construction of the tower facade of the Mother Church of Salaparuta, destroyed by the earthquake of the Belice Valley in 1968 and of which there are, in addition to the historical iconography, also many stone blocks that once constituted the imposing structure. The research conducted evaluates any designers, the reference models identifiable in some Austrian area solutions, the design constraints determined by the seismic rush of the area, the similarities and differences with the architectures of the same type identified in the eastern area of Sicily and built after the earthquake of 1693.
Le tympan du portail central de la cathédrale de Nantes
1998
The tympanum of the central portal of Nantes cathedral. Owing to a reassessment of the available sources on the sculptured decor of the façade of Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul cathedral in Nantes, it is possible to bring some precisions about the original state of the building. The tympanum of the central portal of this façade did not present, as is usually acknowledged, an original openwork design which was filled up in the 17th century when the organ loft was erected. The analysis of the still existing remnants, as well as the size and nature of the stones used in this portal leads one to think that its present state dates back to the actual construction. Textual pieces of evidence allow the…
Integrated analysis of performances of facades for indoor comfort purposes
2002
Some guidelines for a method able to evaluate different physical characteristics of building facades, equipped with glazed surfaces, and of indoor environments in order to attain indoor comfort conditions are proposed. New graphs are introduced, showing at the same time the behaviours of several technical-physical parameters of walls, in order to allow comparative analysis of different design configurations in terms of acoustics, lighting and heat transfer properties. Similar graphs are also constructed with reference to parameters characteristic of indoor environment, in order to allow synthetic analysis of comfort conditions. The method would represent a contribution toward the definition…