Advanced investigation criteria for building encasements of working spaces

The role of working spaces in workers' safety is often neglected and reduced to the building final inspection report. Nevertheless plenty of dangers are originated by the building environment surrounding the working activity: wear and obsolescence of building elements, failure mends and vandalism make the original compliancy fade away.The investigation on the real condition of the rooms where work takes place is a keystone to manage workers'S&H properly.The wide compass of building heritage and construction systems is critical when considering any inquiry on their state. Advanced criteria driven from forensic canvassing are sketched to achieve a formalized and systemic full analysis on each room, revealing and recording any incompliance

PV & Peltier façade: preliminary experimental results

The paper reports the preliminary experimental results of an hybridization between a classic ventilated facade and photo-voltaic panels powering a Peltier cells system to improve the inner summer comfort with an environmental friendly approach. The outer layer of the facade is made of photovoltaic panels while a pair of light alloy heat exchanger, coupled on the opposite sides of the Peltier cells, are fitted between the internal space and the air chimney of the facade. The Peltier cells are electrically wired directly with the solar cells: the more the sun affects the front, the more the solar cells produce power to feed the Peltier cells that work as a static heat pump, cooled by the air flowing through the interspace of the ventilated facade. This will result in an inside cooling effect and this effect shall be summed with the well-known passive good performance of the ventilated facade in summer sunny days. During the winter, a simple switch of the power polarity would result in a free inner heating effect, partially using the solar energy incident on the front: the risk of icing on the cold exchanger in the chimney would be reduced because of the heat transmitted by the rear side of the photo-voltaic cells. A small scale prototype has been tested during summer, showing an improvement of the inner air temperature of about 3-4 K during the sunniest hours, in comparison with the unequipped case

SCP VS. SOP: MANAGING H&S ON A CONSTRUCTION SITE

The main objective of the paper is to suggest proposals likely to facilitate the relationship between the Client and the Contractor/Subcontractors, in order to improve the management of the construction phases with regard to Health & Safety (H&S). It is based on field research in the context of Italian construction. The paper analyzes and compares the content of two documents: The Safety and Coordination Plan (SCP) and the Safety Operational Plan (SOP), with the intent of implementing them in an integrated system managing H&S on construction sites. The comparative analysis recommends several improvements and the optimization of relationships between Client and Contractor, fostering a climate of cooperation and an optimum management of H&S within the construction sit

Rethinking the (near) future of postwar built environment: a systemic approach through façades-only replacement

There is a noticeable portion of the Italian building stock, typically concentrated in suburban areas, whose performance obsolescence and vulnerability are worsening its value and urban image as well. Even though a large-scale construction replacement seems to be apparently the expected way to solve the problem, current global strategies towards the built environment demand different approaches. The paper identifies envelope replacement as a systemic and feasible tactic to extend the service life of such target buildings and to enhance their resilience towards climate change and users’ needs, also with positive fallouts for the environment and urban image

“LA FABRIL” RESISTENCIA’S INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE: RE-FUNCTIONAL CHANCE AND MANAGERIAL CHALLENGE

The La Fabril Financiera oil factory, founded by Juan Rossi in 1888, became a pioneer factory in the production of furfural oil. In 1919 it was acquired by the Compañía General de Fósforos and in 1920 by the Compañía General Fabril Financiera, becoming one of the most important industrial companies in the region. When “La Fabril” closed, the abandonment began: at the beginning of 2009, the official decision was made to demolish the complex to build a housing district, but a popular movement was organized to demand the preservation of the buildings, which motivated the Authorities to review their intentions and find a better solution to the need of the people of Chaco people

THE ITALIAN LEGISLATION ON PROJECT VALIDATION

Italy, first in Europe, introduced mandatory validation in building public works: the first years experienced some issues leading to a general updating of the national legislation, differentiating the project verification from the project validation. The former is a formal stage of the construction process committed to the Public Authority (through the Overall Procedure manager), the latter can usefully be performed by an external authority and involves systematic project examination and contractual documentation monitoring. The research critically approaches the modifications in the last decades on public work legislation, from the aged Merloni Act to the current Presidential Decree no. 207/2010. The paper focuses on the improvements on public building in design stage because of the mandatory validation. It also describes how some weak points have been solved and those that are still present in the Italian legislation. Particular attention is given to construction works below a certain threshold of amount

THE ITALIAN LEGISLATION ON PROJECT VALIDATION

Italy, first in Europe, introduced mandatory validation in building public works: the first years experienced some issues leading to a general updating of the national legislation, differentiating the project verification from the project validation. The former is a formal stage of the construction process committed to the Public Authority (through the Overall Procedure manager), the latter can usefully be performed by an external authority and involves systematic project examination and contractual documentation monitoring. The research critically approaches the modifications in the last decades on public work legislation, from the aged Merloni Act to the current Presidential Decree no. 207/2010. The paper focuses on the improvements on public building in design stage because of the mandatory validation. It also describes how some weak points have been solved and those that are still present in the Italian legislation. Particular attention is given to construction works below a certain threshold of amount

Sustainable House Manufacturing for Smart Matching Cities

In bottom-up approach to the smart city, the construction of the house and its related land consumption is the fundamental cell for governing urban development and its sustainable relationship with society and the rural area. Given the situation in northern Argentina, the research outlines a construction system based on the sustainable wood supply chain, with industrialized production of wood wafer panels and the proposal of a deconstructible house whose elements can be transported by truck. Sustainability of the building system is achieved through the use of wood from rotational forests and the proposed re-purposing of river and rail transport, while building sustainability is pursued through the integrated use of photovoltaics, heat pump, rainwater and surface geothermal energy. The designed dwelling envelope results B rated, according to the IRAM 11605 Argentine standard and the “Minimum Quality Standards for Social Housing”

Colloqui.AT.e 2019 - Ingegno e costruzione nell’epoca della complessità atti del congresso (Torino, 25-27 settembre 2019)

Il volume raccoglie e sistematizza all'interno della disciplina dell'Architettura Tecnica i contributi al Congresso "colloqui.AT.e 2019", articolato in tre ambiti principali (Storia della costruzione e recupero edilizio, Prestazioni dell'edificio, del sistema e dei componenti, Progetto alle diverse scale e tecnologie). Si tratta di oltre un centinaio di contriibuti di studiosi afferenti alle principali scuole di ingegneria ed architettura anche internazionali che rintracciano lo stato dell'arte in materia di intervento sul nuovo e sull'esistente, a livello di territorio, di edificio e di componente

maintenance of buildings italian examples of deviations between planned and incurred costs

In recent years, drawing up the maintenance plan for a building has proved to be a theoretical practice, which has been expressed in the indication of a multiplicity of interventions more for caution reasons than for real needs. In this way, the document (mandatory by the Italian law both for public and private works) has been interpreted as a formal requirement: it must be part of the project, without any particular operational interest. So, the maintenance plans are more often "standard plans", not directing the user towards a specific maintenance strategy and thus consolidating the common thesis that reality is different. The paper compares, with reference to two xxx of study (offices and residence), the planned maintenance actions and those carried out, with an indication of the difference between expected and incurred costs