Innovation for the digitization process of the AECO sector

In this article I will develop the following points: 1. The imagination is structurally technological as it is entangled with historically dominant technologies; 2. These orientate the reconfiguration of its multimodality, i.e. the fact that the imagination does not work only on the optical and visual level but extends its action to all of our sensorimotor system; 3. How this re-modeling is influenced by digital technologies remains to be clarified; 4. In this problematic field there are two opposing lines of development, which I will treat with some examples

Selecting eco-friendly thermal systems for the "Vittoriale Degli Italiani" historic museum building

Thermal systems installed in museums should guarantee the maintenance of the optimal hygrothermal parameters ranges for the conservation of their collection materials. Considering the preservation of historic buildings, according to their historical and landscaping constraints, not all the thermal system typologies could be installed in these buildings' typologies. Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to present some indications for the choice of the best thermal system solutions for a considered historic museum building, called Vittoriale degli Italiani, in the north of Italy, taking into account their installation feasibility and their related environmental impacts. The methodology includes a monitoring of the current hygrothermal parameters as well as the assessment of design heat and cooling loads related to the maintenance of the optimal hygrothermal parameters ranges for the conservation of collection materials. In addition, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of each selected system typology is considered for highlighting the most eco-friendly solution among the suitable ones. The obtained results highlights the feasible thermal system solutions able to maintain the hygrothermal parameters between the optimal ranges with a lower environmental impact in the Vittoriale degli Italiani historic museum building

Technologies and strategies to design sustainable tourist accommodations in areas of high environmental value not connected to the electricity grid

As envisaged in the Agenda for a sustainable and competitive European tourism, the adoption of an holistic and integrated approach and the use of the best available knowledge and technologies are key aspects to ensure a sustainable tourism. In particular, policies and actions should be planned considering the latest and best available knowledge, analyzing at the same time all the related impacts on the area of intervention. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to describe an approach for designing sustainable tourist accommodations that allow the fruition of areas characterized by high environmental values minimizing the related impacts on the surrounding environment and sensitizing users towards preservation and conservation of natural resources. In the proposed approach three aspects of tourist accommodation have been considered: the system component, the building envelope and the integration between them. As a result, the architectural structures designed, including their materials, shape, energy efficiency, modularity and removability, are in line with the standards of bio-architecture. The materials used, complying with the technical requirements and the technological needs of the tourist accommodations, are mostly recycled or reusable, coming from the surrounding area or of easy integration in the landscape. The components , that constitute the accommodations, are easy to assemble and disassemble for reuse them in another area, without changing the environmental conditions in the site. Some elements are precast and completed on site with local materials, moreover the modularity allows a high adaptability to different environmental and morphological conditions. To apply these architectural structures even in places without services and distribution networks of energy and water, special attention has been given to innovative and sustainable energy solutions: Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has been used as the only energy vector, combined with a cogeneration plant to provide heat and electric energy as well as with particular building envelopes that allow the transfer of LPG into the walls for provide energy to innovative gas appliances. Lastly, in order to assess the environmental impact of the proposed approach, it has been analyzed the environmental insertion of these structures for tourist accommodation in the Circeo National Park, in Italy

A sustainable requalification of Bracciano lake waterfront in Trevignano Romano

This paper describes the first interventions carried out in accordance with the results of the three years bilateral research SoURCE (Sustainable Urban Cell) performed by CITERA (Inter department Centre for Territory, Building, Conservation and Environment) of the Sapienza University of Rome and the Department of Urban Planning and Environment of the Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm (KTH) regarding urban redevelopment and distributed micro-generation of buildings. The location is the municipality of Trevignano Romano in the area (urban cell) of the lake waterfront aimed at the integration of all facilities that will increase the tourist accommodation of the area. The concept of the project is to utilize empty spaces, in all lake waterfronts, for the construction of public toilets and showers, introduction of electric boat and bike rental for sightseeing with charging stations and construction of an energy efficient wooden prefabricated building to be used as a general shop for tourists (closest analogue service is about 3 km). The research is included in the executive programme for the scientific and technical cooperation between the Kingdom of Sweden and the Republic of Italy, in the area defined ‘Energy and Environment: Sustainable Cities’

Reuse and upcycling of municipalwaste for zeb envelope design in European urban areas

Building energy efficiency and urban waste management are two focal issues for improving environmental status and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The main aim of this paper is to compare economic costs of new building envelope structures designed by authors reusing and upcycling municipal waste in order to decrease energy demand from the building sector and, at the same time, improve eco-friendly waste management at the local scale. The reuse of waste for building envelope structures is one of the main principles of the Earthship buildings model, based on the use of passive solar principles in autonomous earth-sheltered homes. This Earthship principle has been analyzed in order to optimize buildings’ energy performance and reuse municipal waste for new building envelope structures in urban areas. Indeed, the elaborated structures have been designed for urban contexts, with the aim of reuse waste coming from surrounding landfills. The methods include an analysis of thermal performance of urban waste for designing new building envelope structures realized by assembling waste and isolating materials not foreseen in Earthship buildings. The reused materials are: cardboard tubes, automobile tires, wood pallets, and plastic and glass bottles. Finally, comparing economic costs of these new building envelope structures, the obtained results highlight their economic feasibility compared to a traditional structure with similar thermal transmittance

ZEB Prototype Controlled by a Machine Learning System

This communication concerns a research project by the Interdepartmental Research Centre for Territory Construction Restoration and Environment (CITERA) of Sapienza University of Rome in collaboration with ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) based on the realization of a 1:1 scale demonstrator of a Zero Energy Building that allows continuous experimentation of new technologies for innovative photovoltaic systems, efficient storage systems and high-performance envelope materials. In particular a measurement protocol has been developed for both the overall efficiency of the building and the individual technological components with a view to a comparative critical analysis of the integration of the individual components in the building-system complex. All the technological systems has been used in Solar Decathlon Middle East 2018 competition in Dubai. The project concerns the development of a control and management system for photovoltaic energy production systems for the ZEB prototype, based on an intelligent self-learning system (AI) able to optimize the parameters of self-produced electricity supply based on real consumption of air conditioning equipment, electrical power supply to the equipment, access control and safety equipment. The most immediate result concerns the integrated design of both the hardware systems for the production and use of electricity and the algorithms that continuously measure parameters such as grid load, consumption and electricity production, and which takes into account weather forecasts, energy tariffs, and learns the trend of electricity consumers through the use of artificial intelligence

Technology park in connection with national filing of radioactive waste

The starting project idea arises from the need to provide a national disposal for radioactive waste as required by the European Union, in order to adjust Italy to the rest of the other European countries. The site will replace the temporary disposals realized near to the four former nuclear plants in the Italian territory, to permit plants decommissioning and the subsequent environmental rehabilitation of those areas. The disposal will be realized according to the most modern standards of environmental safety and ensuring maximum sustainability of the site thus using all the ‘Best Available Technique’ for the construction of Near Zero Energy Buildings and energy production systems from renewable sources. The Project is based on data coming from SOGIN (the Italian society for the decommissioning of nuclear plants) for the national radioactive waste disposal able to contain 90,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste and divided into two parts, allowing separate storage of the waste of first and second level, respectively, in quantities of 15.000 mc and 75.000 mc. The Technology Park close to the disposal, will be done with maximum transparency criteria, so to make the site not only accessible to citizens, but even a tourist attraction and a meeting area for the scholars, university students and researchers. In this technological park there are strong requirements for high security systems and an adequate transport and mobility plan designed even for critical situations. In fact in the designed Park there are even special protection systems from physical agents with the possibility, in case of danger, of an access to the closed collection points that are able to insulate workers and visitors from fire or radiation danger

STRATEGIES AND OUTCOMES OF BIM EDUCATION: ITALIAN EXPERIENCES

The growing need on the part of operators in the construction sector for expertise in digital management of construction information processes has been answered since 2015 in the first level master course called BIM Master, from the Department of Planning Design and Technology of Architecture of Sapienza University of Rome. The training course is now in its fifth edition, registering a growing number of students. It has evolved in terms of content delivery methods, and always provides opportunities for internships in client, designers and construction organizations, achieving significant results in terms of placement. The BIM Master is one of the most consolidated national experiences, and has been proposed since the first edition as a training opportunity that links the needs of the market and the expectations of students. It is configured as a project in continuous development that adapts itself year after year to the evolutionary dynamics of the digital construction market, also resulting from the recent national regulatory innovations (UNI 11337). The complexity of BIM training also increases in relation to the different nature and needs of the operators in the sector: owners; designers; builders; and managers, who lead the need for articulated training courses in relation to the role played in the construction supply chain. This paper critically examines, also on the basis of the results of past editions, the training experience of the BIM Master course of Sapienza University of Rome, analyzing the structure, examining the articulation of the main training modules, assessing the results produced by the students, measuring the critical points and, at the same time, identifying the drivers of greater effectiveness in the transfer of skills of a theme that lends itself to ambiguous interpretations at this history time by operators in the construction industry

Air Quality in Portal Areas: An Index for VOCs Pollution Assessment

The main purpose of this chapter is to assess air quality in portal areas considering Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) emissions which involve local air pollution and increase climate changes. The methodology adopted foresaw the elaboration of a comparative index, called AQIvoc “Air Quality Index related to VOCs pollution”, weighed on the atmospheric concentrations of each VOCs as well as on the dangerousness of the different analyzed substances. In particular, VOCs dangerousness was estimated in proportion to the emission limit values of each substance according with the Italian regulations. In order to pinpoint the most critical areas of each harbours, the methodology foresees the monitoring of VOCs concentrations and the evaluation of AQIvoc values in each intended use areas inside a portal area. Therefore, four portal areas have been chosen as case studies for testing the methodology and obtaining the first results of the application of the AQIvoc index. Finally, this chapter briefly describes some Best Available Technologies (BAT) and best practices for mitigating VOCs concentrations and for improving local air quality in those areas that were particularly characterized by VOCs pollution

Optimization of design and management of a hydroponic greenhouse by using BIM application software

The paper deals with hydroponic greenhouses that can be used both for crops cultivation and as a space for hosting events, thanks to its transformability characteristics. The project combines the concepts of circular economy and agricultural activity, creating environmentally sustainable hydroponic greenhouses, from the design to the management phase, thanks to the use of a multidisciplinary BIM approach (Building Information Modelling). The use of application software in BIM logic such as MC4® Energy and Arch Energy (Tool developed by Sapienza University of Rome) for the energetic performance evaluation and Tally® Environmental Impact Tool for LCA Analysis, has improved the design of a modular and flexible architecture, energy-efficient and water-efficient, with advanced climate control. The project offers a possible solution to the main future challenges of food production such as the limited space, the urbanization process, the scarce availability of resources such as water, fossil fuels, minerals and the increasing demands of consumers in terms of functionality and product quality