Smart technological tools for rising damp on monumental buildings for cultural heritage conservation. A proposal for smart villages implementation in the Madonie montains (Sicily)

The Madonie district, in the inner Sicily, is composed of 21 villages, custodians of heritage, traditions, and values that constitute the identity of this area, now exclusively entrusted to the collective memory of an increasingly elderly and inactive population. In the study area, full of tangible and intangible heritage, technological tools, can revitalize and reuse examples of architecture, especially monumental, whose main problem is a deep rising damp affecting the masonry. That is particularly critical for the historic/traditional architectures. This research implements, in one of the villages of the enclave, a new technology system, namely Information and Commu- nication Technology (ICT) tool, like Charge neutralisation Technology (CNT), in contrast to the usual application of the classic and well-known resolution systems. This kind of methodology has been already applied in many monumental buildings in Italy with brilliant results and supporting the protection, enhancement, and promotion of cultural heritage. In Sicily it was never used and represents, in line with the smart village approach, a viable technology to be applied. The smart village model is one of the increasingly popular research topics globally and provides technologies aimed at preserving the identity of the territory and the historical buildings. Culture, if usable and accessible to all, results as an economic resource, a tourist attraction, and a factor of identity. The goal is to develop these inner areas through the smart villages approach by implementing smart technologies and establishing a synergic union of centers to be more competitive in the Sicilian hinterland, but also at the national level, with respect to the wise use of administrative, political, and governmental strategies. Cultural heritage and innovation, together, retrace the past with a view to modernity. The country’s cultural heritage recovered and enhanced is a virtuous strategy to safeguard the identity and value of historic places such as that one of ancient villages and a way to find smart resilient strategies and a sustainability assessment for future communities

Nanotechnologies for architecture

In architecture and building practise, the development of new materials such as the nanostructured materials, and especially the nanocomposite, will lead to a revolution in the way we think about buildings and living. New materials, new methods, new structures will allow us construct higher and bigger enhanced buildings, structures and infrastructures with new functionalities and new perspectives. In this research we will analyze how these new technologies will change, or are still changing, the construction world

Spent Coffee Grounds-Based Thermoplaster System to Improve Heritage Building Energy Efficiency: A Case Study in Madonie Park in Sicily

This study reports on the application of an innovative plastering system that reuses organic waste, namely spent coffee grounds (SCG), to improve energy efficiency in historical buildings according to the European Green Deal. The case study was conducted in the village of Polizzi Generosa, selected from 21 small villages located in the extensive UNESCO Geopark of Madonie Park in Sicily. Over time, traditional plasters used in Madonie buildings have shown durability issues due to thermal and hygrometric stresses caused by significant temperature fluctuations in the area. Moreover, much of the considered architectural heritage lacks energy efficiency. Given the global increase in coffee production and the need for more sustainable waste management systems, this investigation proposes an ecological method to reuse SCG in plaster formulation, thereby enhancing the circular economy. To achieve this, many thermoplaster formulations were developed, and the best-performing one, considering both material and aesthetic compatibility with historical buildings, was selected for a real-world application. Additionally, virtual modeling and energy simulations were conducted to test the energy performance of a traditional building in Polizzi Generosa using SCG-based thermoplaster in comparison to traditional lime mortar and commercial alternatives. The real-world application demonstrated the technical feasibility of the process, and the energy simulations showed an improved building masonry energy performance of 0.788 W/m2K and an 11% improvement compared to traditional plaster. Results clearly indicate that SCG can be successfully reused to produce eco-friendly bio composite plasters, providing a more sustainable housing option. This approach offers a durable and cost-effective alternative for housing solutions that meet regulatory requirements for energy efficiency, serving as a smart, highly sustainable, and long-lasting choice for the construction sector. Finally, this result supports the research goal of transforming the 21 municipalities of Madonie into smart and green villages, with the “Smart Coffee-House” exemplifying intelligent rehabilitation processes of existing heritage buildings

Biobased mortars in the Mediterranean context: The contribution of the CUBÂTI project within cross-border cooperation

The Mediterranean context is a transition zone between the temperate and tropical belts, developing in some regions between 20° and 40° North and South latitude. Typical flora of the Mediterranean bush includes holm oak, cork oak, heather, myrtle, rosemary, laurel, oleander, orange, prickly pear, caper, and pistachio. The research carried out as part of the cross-border cooperation project CUBÂTI “Culture du bâti de qualité: recherche, innovation et entreprise pour la durabilité,” funded by the Italy-Tunisie Programme 2014-2020, identified some of these plant species, linked to production waste from the agro-food sector of Sicily and Tunisia, to experiment with new additives to be used as reinforcement in plaster mortars. Furthermore, with the objective of improving circular processes and reducing the use of natural resources, we preferred to use local binders that are not resource-intensive, such as gypsum and clay. The activities were conducted through intense collaboration between research institutes and manufacturing companies to intensify technological transfer and raise awareness towards the use of more environmentally sustainable materials. The results obtained from the experimentation, which included durability tests of the developed materials, demonstrated that the controlled addition of plant fibres could be a sustainable way to improve some performances of plaster mortars

Analytical studies of the Sirocco room of Villa Naselli-Ambleri: A XVI century passive cooling structure in Palermo (Sicily)

This work focuses on a passive cooling architecture particularly popular from the Renaissance in Palermo area, as building sumptuous suburban villas became a real hobby for the Sicilian aristocracy. A Sirocco room is an artificial subterranean construction, built close to a water spring in order to reproduce the pleasant conditions of freshness that could be experienced in a natural cavern. In these places, nobles used to spend their time with friends to escape from the hot summer. The room of Villa Naselli-Ambleri is nowadays the best preserved in Palermo thanks to its owners' conservation care and it is unique for its cooling operating principle. The above-mentioned considerations make this structure worth of deeper analysis regarding its architectural configuration along with some climatic studies. Following a well-established procedure intended for an intimate knowledge of historical architecture, the construction has been investigated from various points of view. A preliminary analysis of ancient documents (manuscripts, notary deeds, pictures) was performed to outline the historical evolution, the materials and constructive techniques used and the possible modifications it had undergone. Then, an architectural survey was performed in order to evaluate the geometrical/dimensional features. The collected data were compared with the historical quotes previously acquired. Furthermore, some thermo-hygrometric measurements were performed with the purpose of studying the unique cooling operating principle that is caused by the room peculiar architectural configuration and by the interaction water-air-limestone, recalling the antique Persian systems of passive cooling. Such a scheme was partially modified during the beginning of last century reducing de facto the cooling effect; a potential restoration project, as hoped by the owners, the Counts Naselli Dukes of Gela of the Princes of Aragona, will deal - as a central theme - with the reconfiguration and re-functionalization of the structure. The knowledge of such a construction and operating principles is also particularly important to re-discover the forgotten "places of delight" that are a fundamental element in Palermo history and culture, a central part of its population identity. Furthermore, preservation and reuse of surviving rooms represent a useful way to understand a simple passive cooling system whose principles could be reproduced in a contemporary way in modern buildings intended for a valid and functional energetic control

NANOTECHNOLOGY IN CONSTRUCTION: JUST FASHION OR REAL POTENTIALITIES?

Developments of technology and advances in materials science and engineering are leading to a new generation of products that may represent a competitive route to achieve a real sustainable growth in construction. Currently many nano-based products are available on the global market: smart-materials, nano- composite materials, nano-devices, etc.. Further nanotechnologies enable new developments: materials and products are fast emerging or exist in bulky and expensive forms in other industrial sectors. Anyway, a great deal of research, directly focused in construction’s applications, should be done. This paper is aimed to discuss such an increasing trend and analyses the global market. A general survey on official financial data is performed from many governmental sources in order to enumerate the effective R&D efforts undertaken worldwide. All of those show how nanotechnologies are not just a matter of fashion. Indeed, such a novel materials, technologies and devices are truly applicable in construction and represent also a real natural solution to the number of problems that have afflicted this industrial sector for decades. In this review, many examples of successful applications are reported along with the most popular lines of research. Finally, the acquisition of the knowledge on nanotechnology’s applications in construction allows to formulate a judgment on the real applicability and convenience on such a novel technologies’ usage in comparison to the traditional systems and materials, well established and consolidated in the practice