Parametric and generative design techniques for digitalization in building industry: The case study of glued-laminated-timber industry

According to Wortmann classification, the Building Industry (BI) can be defined as engineer-to-order (ETO) industry: the engineering-process starts only when an order is acquired. This definition implies that every final product (building) is almost unique' and processes cannot be easily standardized or automated. Because of this, BI is one of the less efficient industries today' mostly leaded by craftsmanship. In the last years' several improvements in process efficiency have been made focusing on manufacturing and installation processes only. In order to improve the efficiency of design and engineering processes as well, the scientific community agrees that the most fruitful strategy should be Front-End Design (FED). Nevertheless, effective techniques and tools are missing. This paper discusses outcomes of a research activity that aims at highlighting whether Parametric and Generative Design techniques allow reducing wastes of resources and improving the overall efficiency of the BI, by pushing the Digitalization of design and engineering processes of products. Focusing on the Glued-Laminated-Timber industry, authors will show how Parametric and Generative Design techniques can be introduced in a standard supply-chain system, highlighting potentials and criticism on the supply-chain system as a whole

The bioclimatic urban planning, a case of study: The railway workshops area in Bozen, Italy

This work develops an analysis and design method to improve the sustainability in urban planning of modern cities. As in most of the important cities across Europe, also in Bozen, city administration decided to transform the old railway workshops area into a new modern quarter near the old city centre and, to pursue this objective, it was announced an international design competition. Operating in these kind of areas can radically change all the climate environment of the city, considering the low buildings density and the nearness to the old city centre, as demonstrated by recent studies. Within this context, this article presents the planning methodology developed to reduce the impact on the climate environment of the city by improving bioclimatic solutions at urban scale. Starting from a climate datasets analysis, it was operated a complete solar and ventilation simulation of the entire city to evaluate opportunities and treads linked to the characteristics of project site. The outputs of the simulations provided a complete dataset about solar and ventilation behavior of the area, considering sun and wind the most influent variables for the micro-climatic environment of this part of the city. In conclusion, crossing these data by each other, it was possible to elaborate a zoning of the project site to identify the better strategies to improve the sustainability in urban planning of the area

The bioclimatic urban planning, a case of study: The railway workshops area in Bozen, Italy

This work develops an analysis and design method to improve the sustainability in urban planning of modern cities. As in most of the important cities across Europe, also in Bozen, city administration decided to transform the old railway workshops area into a new modern quarter near the old city centre and, to pursue this objective, it was announced an international design competition. Operating in these kind of areas can radically change all the climate environment of the city, considering the low buildings density and the nearness to the old city centre, as demonstrated by recent studies. Within this context, this article presents the planning methodology developed to reduce the impact on the climate environment of the city by improving bioclimatic solutions at urban scale. Starting from a climate datasets analysis, it was operated a complete solar and ventilation simulation of the entire city to evaluate opportunities and treads linked to the characteristics of project site. The outputs of the simulations provided a complete dataset about solar and ventilation behavior of the area, considering sun and wind the most influent variables for the micro-climatic environment of this part of the city. In conclusion, crossing these data by each other, it was possible to elaborate a zoning of the project site to identify the better strategies to improve the sustainability in urban planning of the area

Timber frame wall with enhanced energy performance - The Solar Decathlon Europe experience

The research focuses on timber frame structures and their weakness regarding their summer behaviour. Timber frame structures, which represent the established standard of the preassembled wooden made houses of small and medium size, perfectly fit to cold weathers with heating requirements during most part of the year. It is demonstrated that they reach the same thermal characteristic, Uvalue transmittance, with the tiniest thickness of boundary wall. Nowadays, the real technical challenge for these wooden structures lies in hot weather conditions and during summer time. As in the last decades the attention has been focused on the reduction of the heating energy needs in steady-state conditions, the envelope dynamic behaviour has been neglected because it is not crucial in the winter period. At the present time, wooden structures in the Mediterranean area suffer the comparison with heavy brick and concrete buildings. The lower thermal capacity decreases the thermal inertia, speeds the dynamic response and therefore seems to be the main cause of the worsening of the indoor comfort. The direct solution which is the increase of the internal mass up to achieving the required levels will lead to an unavoidable growth of the whole structure mass and thence to a decay of its seismic behaviour. Briefly, the answer to one issue will spoil the main characteristic of the timber structures. The need to find such a solution came up to evidence as the Med in Italy group was chosen to participate to the Solar Decathlon Europe 2012 and both Free University of Bolzano-Bozen and Fraunhofer Italia Research were asked for the energy performance consultancy. According to the main purpose of design strategies, the improvement of thermal capacity across envelope elements has been deeply investigated. The main strategy included an increased mass across walls respecting the lightness of structures typical of wood technologies. Therefore some alternative strategies has been investigated starting from a uniform mass distribution. The use of sand as thermal mass represented a big challenge to analyse different mass typologies

Flexibility in energy-efficient public housing as a factor of social. economic and environmental sustainability

The general purpose of this research project is to create a Construction Building Guide for professionals and technicians that could be applied in all climatic zones of Italy by introducing flexibility issues as a new standard. The first part of research is focused to design a prototype of low-cost prefabricated apartment block. The building should include some concepts as: efficiency, flexibility respecting changes in the nuclear family, modularity, high-energy performance and, at the same time, high quality of life and low environmental impact. Moreover, according to family needs, flexibility should allow modifying a dwelling surface and internal functionality by joining together rooms or service without limits on the part of plant engineering. The paradigm of flexibility is strictly linked to modularity and prefabrication issues, so the choice of glue-lam timber system with sandwichpanels appears the best compromise. In the second part, the hygrothermal performance and dynamic thermal characteristics of building components and junction details was simulated and verified for three main Italian climatic zones, based on: UNI 6946:2008, UNI 13788:2003, UNI EN ISO 13786:2008 standards

Timber frame wall with enhanced energy performance - The Solar Decathlon Europe experience

According to the main purpose of design strategies of the Med in Italy house, the improvement of thermal capacity across envelope elements has been investigated. The main strategy included an increased mass across walls respecting the lightness of structures typical of wood technologies. Therefore some alternative strategies have been investigated starting from a uniform mass distribution. The use of sand as thermal mass represented a big challenge to analyse different mass typologies. First of all, sand has been analysed as a uniform mass included within a special frame structure. In this case mass exchanges heat only by the main surface of inner layers. During a second phase, sand has been inserted in different cases (trying to find the most suitable shape for assembling and handling). This solution reduced the total weight of structures (up to 10% less) but, by a ventilation of the mass itself, increased the surface exchanging heat. So, as experiments in climatic chamber demonstrated, it has been possible to strongly increase the whole thermal capacity of walls (at least up to 10 %)

The TRE3 research project: A hybrid timber-frame wall system for emergency housing facilities

The TRE3 research project focuses on the development of a new and innovative timber frame wall modulus for emergency housing facilities. The wall modulus, in this paper referred to as Hybrid Timber Frame (HTF) wall system, is an evolution of the traditional Light-Frame Timber (LFT) structural systems and combines the advantages and some peculiar aspects of lightweight structures to the potentialities of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) panels. This hybrid approach makes the HTF structural system suitable for the production of light and high-performing wall moduli, allowing an advanced prefabrication process, fast assembling procedures and a simple disassembly. The paper provides a description of the HTF wall system following a multidisciplinary approach. Particular attention is paid to the mechanical and geometrical characterisation of three HTF wall moduli, used to assemble different housing units. The structural design is carried out by considering severe loading conditions (which include snow, wind and earthquake) so that the temporary units assembled with the HTF moduli can be used in most of the Italian regions. Furthermore, in this paper, specific aspects such as logistics, architectural details and building physics are analysed and critically discussed

Implementation of Industry 4.0 in Germany, Brazil and Portugal: Barriers and Benefits

Part 5: Industry 4.0 ImplementationsInternational audienceIndustry 4.0 is a subject that has attracted the interests of researches worldwide for its ability to achieve productivity gains and to provide competitiveness to the companies. Although much research has been done on technical studies, little attention has been paid to the challenges that decision-makers, executives and managers face to implement the concepts of Industry 4.0 in their companies. This research was based on secondary data, involving a research made with 246 companies in Brazil, 287 in Germany and 72 in Portugal, which studied the internal and external obstacles and expectations of these 605 companies. The originality and practical implication of this research is to compare these three countries, studying common and different points to implement the concepts of Industry 4.0, so researchers can conduct their studies to try to provide answers to practical expectations, linking research to practice