Semantic Innovation: a driver for the innovation of construction materials

The demand of sustainability can affect various issues of the production of materials and components for construction. This leads to process innovation, product innovation and semantic innovation. The innovation of meaning, what I call semantic innovation, is the kind of innovation that leads to the change of understanding or acceptance of a process or a product in relation to a meaning changed, added, or simply made explicit (i.e. describes the product characteristics that construction had already previously but which had never been suitably described and used for the affirmation of the product on the market). The paper proposes an interpretation of an innovation process based on dialogue with stakeholders, a process by which the building project and, more specifically, the project of construction products can satisfy the need for environmental compatibility and can position itself on the market in innovative ways. The paper shows examples and discusses the dynamics of innovation in the construction industry in relation to the increasingly clear demand for sustainability

Evolution of technology, innovation of languages

The development of technological research can be studied on the publications of the SAIE (in particular in the publications known as “Cuore Mostra”) and on the network of connections generated by these books. These sources constitute a tool for building the social capital that we identify with the Architectural Technology. A selection of text citations is inevitable: this means betraying the breadth and the overall sense of SAIE publications. On the other hand, each reading, re-reading and translation enriches the texts of meanings and creates connections that can share (with the originals) aspirations, language and discipline of the work, which are based on the intent to cross the border between the technical and theoretical aspects of the research work and the design

Buildings that are sustainable

Often the word sustainability of a building concerns also its embodied energy, the consumption of natural resources, the use of land and so on, with issues that cover its entire life cycle. On the other hand, it`s easier to calculate the energy consumption than the other parameters of the building sustainability, and assessment methods (Leed, Spear etc.) are often considered too laborious to be adopted by small developers. Additionally it is possible to recognize some lacks in every rating system if they are compared with the most common definition of sustainability. The paper shows the intermediate step of a Research that aims to produce guideline for the building activity in the Rovigo area in Italy. The authors are working, together with the Rovigo public administration, to produce a actions to be taken by developers, architects and builders. The distinctive point of this work is the improvement of the voluntary adoptions of such actions, which differ from the compulsoriness of imposed regulations

I metodi della valutazione della sostenibilità del costruito

Il volume "I metodi di valutazione della sostenibilità del costruito" fornisce informazioni di base, utili alla comprensione, ed elementi di analisi, atti alla valutazione comparata, degli strumenti che sempre più spesso si propongono come atti alla valutazione della sostenibilità del costruito. Il volume non analizza solo i metodi di valutazione della sostenibilità del costruito ma affronta anche la lettura dei processi innovativi e complessi che caratterizzano la definizione dell'ecocompatibilità in edilizia, con espliciti riferimenti alla continuità storica tra la definizione di qualità e quella si sostenibilità del costruito. Il volume offre inoltre un’analisi sintetica ma completa degli indicatori contenuti nei principali metodi di valutazione in uso, costituisce dunque uno strumento pratico di lettura alle diverse linee guida, anche attraverso la descrizione di casi studio esemplari. "I metodi di valutazione della sostenibilità del costruito" è un volume rivolto ai professionisti, interessati ad avvicinarsi alle certificazioni di sostenibilità, ai ricercatori, interessati all'evoluzione di tali strumenti, e alle imprese del settore edile, alle quali sempre più spesso vengono rivolti quesiti in merito all'ecocompatibilità del costruito e del cantiere