Leonardo Mosso: the poetry of structure

Leonardo Mosso (1926-2020) was able to combine art and architecture. He was a collector and an interpreter of 20th century culture that he shared and passed on to succeeding generations of students and collaborators who attended the Alvar Aalto Institute. For many, he was an unsung Maestro, a generous polymath, who maintained an extraordinary curiosity and child-like enthusiasm throughout his long life

Progetto locale ecocompatibile di filiera di prodotto:pannelli isolanti innovativi in lana di pecora. A sustainable building product: advanced insulation panels obtained by recycling regional sheep's wool

The article deal with an ongoing research aimed at developing an advanced self-bearing panel, fitted for thermal and acoustic insulation of buildings, derived from the reuse and recycling of local sheep wool. The development of a supply chain of environmentally friendly products (a self bearing panel made of 100% wool) encourages, on the one hand, the use of a material so far classified in Italy as special waste and, on the one other, provides new opportunities for a sheep farming that it is now going through an economic recession, with positive effects on the mountain and the hill landscap

Health facilities humanisation: Design guidelines supported by statistical evidence

Background. Healthcare building humanisation is currently a widely debated issue and the development of patient centered and evidence based design is growing worldwide. Many international health organizations and researchers understand the importance of Patient Centred Design and leading architects incorporate it into the design process. In Italy this design approach is still at an early stage. The article refers to research com- missioned by the Italian Health Ministry and carried out by R. Del Nord (Università degli Studi di Firenze) and G. Peretti (Politecnico di Torino) with their collaborators. The scope of the research was the definition of design guidelines for healthcare facilities humanisation. Method. The methodology framework adopted is the well established need and perfor- mance approach in architectural design. The article deals with the results of statistical investigations for the definition and ranking of users’ needs and the consistent expres- sion of their requirements. The investigations were carried out with the cooperation of psychologists of the Università degli Studi di Torino and researchers of the Università degli Studi di Cagliari. The proposed evaluation system allows ranking of health facilities according to the level of humanisation achieved. Results. The statistical investigation evidence collected allowed the definition of human- isation design guidelines for health-care facilities and for the assessment of their specific level of humanisation

From the management of the project, to the evidence of the results: the Olympic Village of Turin 2006

From 10 to 26 February 2006 Turin hosted the XX Olympic Winter Games. The building process of all the necessary infrastructure has been characterized, since the design phase, by exceptional measures for quality control and for environmental protection. The settlement of the "Olympic District" in Turin, in the Lingotto area has represented, since the beginning, an opportunity for the re-develop of an historical urban area. Ten years after the event, the Olympic Village area is in a state of strong urban decay, at the building and the social level. The re-conversion had a negative result. The contribution identifies the critical points that brought the project so far away from the original aims, despite the innovative methods of control and management of the process

The guidelines for the humanisation of care facilities

This article outlines the structure and contents of the guidelines for the humanisation of care facilities, which were produced from the research project The Humanisation of Healthcare Facilities: the new Dimension of Hospital Architecture conducted by the Tesis Inter-university Research Centre at the University of Florence and by the DINSE Department of the Politecnico di Torino for the Ministry of Health. The research work used a requirement-based approach that analysed the activities and requirements expressed by certain different users. For example, the guidelines on certain areas of the analysed healthcare facilities have been outlined

Actions and tools for the conservation and valorisation of rural architecture and landscape

The valorisation of the traditional architecture is a key strategy to improve the economic development of rural areas. The activities of some G.A.L. (Local Action Group) of Piedmont Region included the creation of guides focused on the refurbishment of the rural architecture, improving also the energy efficiency of buildings. The paper describes the targets, the methodology and the main results concerning the adoption of the guides and outline a monitoring project, aimed to assess strengths, weakness and opportunities, in order to improve the overall effectiveness of the measures and investments

NATURAL FIBRE INSULATION MATERIALS: USE OF TEXTILE AND AGRI-FOOD WASTE IN A CIRCULAR ECONOMY PERSPECTIVE

Fibrous materials are among those most used for the thermal and acoustic insulation of building envelopes and are also suitable for a wide range of applications. In building construction, the demand for products with low environmental impact - in line with the Green Deal challenge of the European Community - is growing, but the building market is still mostly oriented towards traditional products, missing the many opportunities for using waste materials from existing industrial production. The paper presents the experimental results of new thermal and acoustic insulation products for building construction and interior design, based on previous experiences of the research group. They are produced entirely using waste sheep's wool as a "matrix" and other waste fibres, as “fillers”. The materials proposed originate from textile and agri-industrial chains in the Piedmont region and have no uses other than waste-to-heat biomass. The panels have characteristics of rigidity, workability, and thermal conductivity that make them suitable for building envelope insulation

Natural fibers insulation panels: an adaptive production

The research team recently developed an innovative system with low environmental impact for the production of semi-rigid panels for thermal and acoustic insulation, obtained from recycled sheep's wool from Piemonte region. Starting from the previous work, a new semi-rigid panel has been produced, combining sheep wool with hemp technical fibers. Both sheep wool and hemp comes from agri-food systems and are considered as a wastes from existing production chains. Panels show low environmental impact and stiffness as main innovative features, if compared with other similar products on the market. A further experimentation phase allowed to improve the production process adaptability degree to the availability of natural by-products from local agri-food systems, with the aim to develop an “open recipe” able to answer to the building market different requests. The contribution presents the methodology adopted for the research in progress, the "open" technology assessment adopted for panels production and results of preliminary thermal tests

Natural Fibers Insulation Materials: Use of textile and agri-food waste in a circular economy perspective

Fibrous-based materials are among the most used for the thermal and acoustic insulation of building envelopes and among the ones with the best flexibility in use. In building construction, the demand for products with low environmental impact - in line with the Green Deal challenge of the European Community - is growing, but the building market is still mostly oriented towards traditional products, missing the many opportunities for using waste materials from existing industrial production. The paper presents the experimental results of new thermal and acoustic insulation products for building construction and interior design, based on previous experiences of the research group. They are entirely produced using waste sheep's wool as a "matrix" and other waste fibers, as "fillers". Proposed materials derive from textile and agro-industrial chains of Piedmont region and have no other uses, different from the thermal valorization as biomass. The panels have characteristics of rigidity, workability, and thermal conductivity that make them suitable for building envelope insulation