An evaluation of thermal and lighting performance within an ETFE structure

This paper reports on a study into the thermal and lighting environment of an enclosed Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) foil-covered structure. This is based on the on-site monitoring over set periods of time in summer 2014 and winter 2015. ETFE-foil is a relatively new highly-translucent construction material that has been used in some high profile projects around the world. In a unique development, this project looked at a new building product that makes use ETFE film and tensioned it over aluminium frames to create a modular ETFE-covered panel that can look similar to and can be installed as a replacement for glazing. This opens up new markets for the use of ETFE-film, such as agriculture and horticulture, and allows for possibilities such as urban and vertical farming or the retrofitting of existing commercial and residential greenhouses. A test structure was constructed from the ETFE-covered panels. This paper will report on the impacts of solar radiation on the thermal environment as well as the relative humidity within this enclosure so that a more holistic understanding of the thermal comfort can be obtained. The second section will explore the internal daylighting environment including analysis of the daylight factor within the structure and luminance mapping to examine brightness and visual performance and its effect on the perception of space and objects within. The paper will conclude that the temperature within the enclosed ETFE structure can become too high during the summer months and may require heating when occupied during the winter months. The research also finds that the daylight levels can be too bright if the internal space were to be used regularly by occupants, although this may be beneficial for plants. In both cases, overheating and solar gain issues can be resolved through appropriate shading and ventilation

Sustainable innovation in Minimal Mass Structures and Lightweight Architectures

The special issue Sustainable innovation in Minimal Mass Structures and Lightweight Architectures of the Journal of Architectural Engineering and Design Management selects the most significant topics that were at the center of the discussion during the international symposium "Softening the habitats" organized by the Politecnico di Milano and the Association European TensiNet. The key questions that today are driving research and development in the field of lightweight membrane constructions and textile architecture are the following two. In the light of consolidated technological level and the renewed design-manufacturing tools, what innovation can we still expect? And what disruptive changes will make this area more and more coherently aligned with the environmental sustainability objectives of the entire construction? The two volumes of this special issue offer answers to the above questions, and help to bring the spotlight to a construction’s niche, which has always operated according to the principles of mass minimization and efficiency maximization that are today widely rediscovered and enhanced in terms of green economy. The first volume looks to the distant future of textile architecture, focusing on the experimental works that want to overcome the current technologies, discovering new materials, new weaving and knitting techniques, and envisioning novel structural concepts and installation procedures, as well as unusual hybridizations between technical textiles and other lightweight materials. The second volume looks to the near future of membrane structures - that is to the production techniques and those materials today considered the most reliable and durable in the field of tensile structures – and, from this priveleged observatory, it focuses on incremental innovation approaches, on best practices for enhancing environmental sustainability, comfort, thermal, acoustic and light efficiency, as well as on the ways of assessing their impact on our common planet

A Kernel Reference Model for Computer Aided Architectural Deslgn.

For the architectural practice drawings are the most important medium to transfer information. Other documents concerning planning, quantities, calculations or descriptions are complements to the drawn construction data. The automatisation made it possible to spent less time to obtain drawings of higher quality, and to handle the administrative data in a more efficient manner. 

Contemporary Tensile Structures in Europe: tendencies, challenges, their sustainability and life cycle

Sustainability and Life Cycle Design of Membrane Architectures • Advantages and limits of Membranes as construction system and their Lightness • Less matter, material and energy saving? • The life cycle of membranes: from cradle to cradle/reuse/recycling • Assessment of their eco-efficinec

Proceedings of the International Conference eCAADe: European Computer Aided Architectural Design Education

In the beginning of the eighties, a few enthusiastic researchers, under the impulsion of Tom MAVER (director of the ABACUS group) and Rik SCHIJF (TH Delft) initiated a regular, if not formal, convention of people involved in the teaching of computer aided architectural design ECAADE in Europe. In 1982 a first meeting took place in Delft and, taking into consideration the member of attendants and the enthusiasm during this convention, it was decided that CAAD was definitely an important topic and that a more formal symposium was to be organised in the fall of 1983, in the University of Brussels. The positive evolution of CAAD, not only in educational institutions, but also in professional practice is not surprising: it is to be considered in the global frame of technological and organisational revolution actually taking place. As will be read in the outstanding contribution of the participants it is not a mere choice of increased productivity which attracts the architects, the CAAD techniques also release then from a serious burden: the production of technical drawings and administrative paperwork