Search

Today, technological innovation in the construction field faces an important challenge: the identification of solutions that may not only allow to maximize energy saving in the use phase, but that may also reduce environmental impact throughout the entire life cycle of materials and components. The paper illustrates a research activity and experimentation - funded by the European Union - carried out in synergy by research centres and private companies. Its end purpose was the design, prototyping, and monitoring of an eco-friendly brick envelope named BLOCK_PLASTER. Alternative configurations to the system have been identified and technologicalenvironmental performances in the different phases of the life cycle have been verified through a multidisciplinary and a multi-objective approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the research and experimentation that led to the development of a metal cladding element, part of a dry construction system for roofing and facades, designed to offer the market a product for use in new constructions and renovation. The project was initiated by a request from an Italian business for the Università Iuav di Venezia to assist in innovating the company's products and production processes to meet the new technical and aesthetic demands of the market. The report describes the working methodology used to create the system through a design process using digital methods and 3D prototyping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the influence of timber construction on architectural design through a critical analysis and comparison between two environmental and building contexts that are culturally and geographically different from one another: the experience of the former British colonies, represented by New Zealand, and the Mediterranean one, described by Italy. This comparison moves through the investigation on three themes: the cultural value of the construction process; the performance realm (environmental, energy and seismic ones as firsts); the design dimension. The contribution underlines divergences and similarities of the technological culture of design in two countries that share similar requirements regarding post-earthquake reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines how the relationship between the project and the matter is changing under the impact of digitalization and the productive and economical emerging paradigms, both in terms of process and product. The evolutionary path of the relationship between industrialization and architecture allow us to draw a picture which, starting from the first experience of standardizing prefabrication, lead to results increasingly oriented towards the personalization of realizations (Industrial Mass Customization). The essay proposes a critical reading of most recent and advanced technological innovations, focusing on the applications of 3d printing additive technology to the architecture and to the new scenarios of research opened for the project and the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The secular bond between materiality and meaning in architecture has undergone, during the twentieth-century phase of productivistic optimism, a strong weakening. Starting from the analysis of some masterpieces, created by architects not aligned with Modernist orthodoxy, the paper seeks out the need to mend the relationship between materiality and sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the SELFIE (Smart and Efficient Layers for Innovative Envelope) project was to develop novel adaptive envelope systems for nZEBs, within the framework of a smart city, in order to facilitate the exploitation of RES at building scale and simultaneously decrease the energy consumptions and improve indoor environmental quality in non-residential buildings. The process of designing innovative technological systems, capable of integrating smart materials and novel technologies, into the new construction and/or renovation of buildings, will be described in this paper. The objective is demonstrated how it is possible transferring know-how from different production sectors aimed to reduction of environmental impact of the built environment of our cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metropolitanisation process that affects the contemporany city, climate change, the depletion of ecological and energy sources all demand a unified, integrated and interscalar public government strategy that makes urban regeneration and the restoration of territorial balance its priorities. Such a strategy has been the benchmark for drafting the 12 priority themes of the Urban Agenda for the EU and policies that aim to promote the smart sustainability and efficiency of cities. In this framework, the @22Barcelona project in Barcelona, presented in this paper, represents an emblematic example selected from the case studies of the "Mediterranean Europe: Strategies of urban and metropolitan rebalancing and the construction of the public city" research project (2016). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper refers to the final phase of the Smart Case research project "Innovative solutions for the optimization of multi-functional primary energy consumption and indoor living conditions in the Building System". The aim of the research was to develop tools and methodologies to support and orient the design of new buildings in the Mediterranean area, with regard to the selection of envelope technologies for the best overall energetic and environmental performance of the building system. Further research developments on the topic may concern actions aimed at moving from the Nearly Zero Energy to the Plus Energy model. The interaction between the building and the smart grid will be one of the main aspects to be investigated with a systemic perspective towards smart cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the complex and interrelated nature of the smart city concept, the importance of considering both the potential contribute of informed end-users and the impacts of a more organized - district based - approach to energy management are rising as relevant topics. This paper reports the progress of a research aimed to map energy use at district level, translating the zoning concept to balance actions to be delivered in different areas into a city level perspective. The adoption of energy maps is aimed to facilitate the understanding and the communication of the potential impacts in order to increase end-users and key-players awareness on the energy issue as well as to support decision makers to prioritize actions according to a shared systemic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of our contribution is to provide insight into an innovative, shared and transferable model to assist the evolution and sustainable planning of an urban-industrial metropolitan area through a bottom-up involvement of the industrial community and local stakeholders. The presence of industrial urban districts has become a typical feature in Italy as a result of urban spreading. The presence of SMEs in urban ecosystems is a new fundamental opportunity for the design and planning of spaces as well as for the planning of smart energy systems and life quality in the cities. We tested this approach in Roveri, a historical industrial district in transition located within the urban boundary of Bologna. This paper describes the first results obtained with a number of tools and actions aimed at making the community and stakeholders conscious of the district's potential and to enable them to lead its development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary purpose of this paper is to illustrate the process of experimental research regarding the smart and synergic urban districts/smart and dynamic energy systems relationship, conducted by the authors as part of their activities at Technische Universität München and carried out until realization on both an urban and an architectural scale. The research and applicative experimentation regarded seven German urban situations on the conforming dimension of the "smart district" (between 15,000 and 20,000 inhabitants): the urban communities of Feldkirchen, Aschheim, and Kirchheim, the historical centres of the cities of Iphofen and Taufkirchen, the municipality of Ismaning, and the Wüstenahorn neighbourhood in Coburg. The various urban communities that were the object of research signed an agreement with the Technical University of Munich as part of the German national line of research called "Energienutzungsplan" - "Energy Use Plan" - supported by the Ministry of the Environment of Bavaria, for which the authors were awarded grants and served as rapporteurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current investments for smart infrastructure development in cities result in the proliferation of self-consistent and closed applications (often called "silos"), which provide services with strong vertical integration but without ease of mutual horizontal integration. This paper investigates the state of several initiatives addressing this problem. It arrives at a proposal for diminishing and, ideally, breaking down these silos. This vision can be achieved by introducing the idea of building Smart Cities on a common set of architectural principles, Pivotal Points of Interoperability (PPI), and by applying these principles to the definition of a set of open Smart City Platform Specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current trends in energy consumption and greenhouse emissions make energy problems in cities take special importance. This situation has led to evaluate different urban configurations that combine the reduction of the energy demands with the optimization of the energy generation systems including renewable sources. The use of dynamic simulation programs allows the quantification of the energy impacts produce by the building stock and the energy generation systems that make up an urban area. Simulation environments have been defined to evaluate and optimize the energy performance of urban areas. This paper presents a modular methodology based on phases to develop a global urban model. This methodology has considered many variables that characterize an urban area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EPBD, 2010/31/EU directive on the energy performance of buildings, introduces the concept of Nearly Zero-Energy Building (nZEB) supporting the transition towards Zero Energy Emission Districts (ZEED) and potentially transforming cities perspectives in order to reduce human impact on the environment. The EPBD revision in course aims at decarbonising the building stock also taking into account ICT facilities and smart readiness for better knowledge, management, and efficiency both at building and at district level. Most of Italian buildings were built before the 80es' and more than 25% with specific architectural constraints. Thus the transition towards nZEBs could be extremely difficult, owing to the low new construction rate and to the feasibility of single buildings renovation. The main objective of this paper is to investigate whether the nZEBs could be the only pathway in promoting transition towards ZEEDs, or not, and, in the former case, which would be the benefit to promote transition thanks to Energyefficient Interactive Building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issues of building densification and land conservation are much debated in local development policies and are related to the rational use of local environmental and climate resources. The paper proposes a critical reading of the research project that ISAAC Institute of SUPSI University (Switzerland) carried out on these themes by analysing a case in the municipality of Lugano Paradiso. The project analyses the effect of the urban transformation in terms of energy and solar access. The proposal of the case study was aimed at highlighting the importance quantifying some of the important consequences of local planning strategies can have on energy and the environment so as to contribute to assess their impacts to meet sustainable criteria and possible improvement actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European Policies consider a multitude of Low Carbon Technologies to transform cities to Low Carbon Cities. Some of these technologies can form distributed systems. These are new forms of Energy Networks which can contribute to reducing the vulnerability and homogenization of urban patterns as they evolve to become part of the urban infrastructure. This evolution process also involves computerizing elements of the infrastructure, and thus relates to the Smart City concept. In this sense, a Distributed and Renewable energy system becomes interactive promoting a set of novel system properties. Following a qualitative approach, this paper presents an innovative conceptual framework in order to establish, communicate and disseminate these new system properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measuring and rating resilience of assets is a key enabler for asset and portfolio management. This paper presents a resilience rating system for buildings by utilising a Building Information Modelling approach. The assessment is carried out through a calculation following the Analytical Hierarchy Process. This methodology can be applied to different types of buildings, without a loss of precision or reliability. This resilience rating forms an integral part of more comprehensive array of Key Performance Indicators frameworks for asset and portfolio management, and therefore can significantly influence strategic investment choices for designers, engineers and building owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of a research conducted on codes and standards adopted internationally for the design, construction and testing of hurricane- and tornado-resistant façades. These façades are built using technologies that pass tests in order to verify the resistance of both the frame and the glazed surface to the impacts caused by wind-borne debris during these extreme meteorological events. The aim of the research is the identification of the best practices that have been adopted, in order to increase the resilience of building envelopes to this weather phenomenon, evaluating the possible applicability of adopting the principles to the specific needs of the European and Italian market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effectively addressing the issue of climate resilience in urban areas requires the development of innovative design methods that can handle the complexity of the information needed to guide sustainable urban regeneration and retrofitting strategies, as well as to manage the technological and environmental solutions in a multi-scale perspective. The paper presents the methodology developed by the ARC3-2 Urban Planning and Design working group of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) and the results of the experimental activities conducted within Studios and Workshops promoted in New York, Paris and Naples by the New York Institute of Technology, the Polytechnic of Milan and the University of Naples Federico II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A methodology is presented to assess local criticalities and resilience to climate changes (CC) and UHI (Urban Heat Island). This analysis will consider the expected impacts on the local energy demand of the built environment due to climate-related variations. Climate-related indicators are proposed to assess a vulnerability index to CC and UHI in specific building-design contexts. Furthermore, these indicators will be applied to a set of locations in the Mediterranean climate while taking into consideration different local contexts to evaluate the resilience of a sample residential building by using, among other strategies, dynamic energy simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper shows the results of an applied research aimed at developing an operative methodology and its corresponding computational workflow for the design of resilient architectures able to responsively react to the variation of the environmental conditions. The proposed methodology consists in a form-searching process built-up by a series of consequential and interrelated phases aimed at reducing the energy needs of the building and improving indoor and outdoor comfort conditions. The analysis of the processes, above defining the limits and potentials of the chosen design approach, opens the debate on parametric tools that allow to systematically explore the space o design possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the concept of resilience has been strategically and inextricably linked to the main aims of the Green Economy and 'process circularity' as applied to the field of the built environment and buildings, starting with the international policy documents published by UNEP in 2008 and by the OECD in 2010. This debate has only just been outlined and there is still plenty of research to be done, but the potential contribution of Technological Design in Architecture seems key. This paper critically analyses the principles, the method- and design-based approaches and the structural strategic measures that can improve the resilience of the built environment, as requested by the European Commission, and considers the prospects for its development in this country, both at a national institutional level and at a local level, primarily gravitating around the strategic working axes that have been outlined - and continue to be pursued - by the States General of the Green Economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the work of the Politecnico di Milano for the "Together It Can Be Done: Sant'Agabio Resiliente" project funded by the Cariplo foundation (2016). Inspired by the principles of the Transition Towns movement, the study intervenes in a multiethnic neighborhood of the Municipality of Novara with innovative actions that enhance the quality of urban environment. The original contribution of the project was the activation of the resilience of a community that is in the process of rehabilitation with goals of solidarity, inclusiveness, participation, and autonomy for the future. The strategies adopted have allowed the involvement of associations in activities relevant to environmental resilience and the facilitation of concrete actions able to generate empathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The researches of Adger (2000), Martini (2015) and Malcevschi et al. (2017) suggest that there is an indissoluble relationship between society, territory and economy, factors which have reciprocal influence on each other in the creation of a specific ecosystem. The connection between these three elements feeds the built environment processes, predisposing its life cycle to various types of resilience. By analysing certain case studies, this paper aims to illustrate various forms of social resilience comforted by the anticipatory approach. The solutions proposed are presented together with details of the process models adopted and subsequently linked to different project and management methodologies which can be connected to the specifics of the technological project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industry of construction products plays an important role in Europe in promoting the sustainability of the built environment in a life cycle perspective. Within the framework of the European initiatives for a sustainable competitiveness, manufacturers are interested in promoting a life cycle approach along the building chain. However both, institutions and building operators, in general still have to go a long way on designing and applying a sustainable and competitive industrial policy. This paper aims to describe the European background, the regulatory framework, identifying gaps and the actions to be undertaken to promote a market for sustainable products and sustainable buildings. In particular this paper deals with the assessment and communication of the environmental performance of construction products between the operators in the building chain, as a prerequisite for the sustainability of the built environment, and outlines the strategies to implement a proper evaluation and communication process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental, social and economic challenges appear even more severe in cities, which are places with the highest population density where disparities and inequalities sharpen above all in peripheral areas characterized by the lack of services and connections, precarious infrastructures and environmental conditions, and fragile social relationships. Therefore, urban peripheries are privileged laboratories to test integrated strategies of regeneration with a place-based and people-centred approach that includes actions in crosscutting sectors. The capacity to face these phenomena requires welfare models based on ideas of social innovation, participation, and central role of the public space for the new scenarios of hope proposed by the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports the results of a research Project intended to promote socio-ecological effect in the urban renewal projects of deteriorated Mediterranean metropolitan suburbs. The thesis is that the direct participation of the citizens in the urban metabolism meets the contingent needs of inclusion and social cohesion typically involving the complexity of urban life today. It also overcomes the oppositions aimed to the defense of established status quo or due to irrational fears. We focus on process aspects. In fact, the roster of best practices for urban renewal shows an increased growth in product offering. The experimentation conducted allowed us to verify the thesis demonstrating the social efficiency of processes in which the collaborative component is not limited to a teamwork design but features continuous participation in the operation of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a research experience, financed and promoted by GAL CILSI through PSR Campania 2007- 13 funds, focused on testing groundbreaking activities of social and economic reactivation in the inland areas. The research experience involves a network of towns of the Alta Irpinia, of which Aquilonia is the leading town. The technological approach of the research develops the dynamic dimension of the settlement system throughout a circular path in which the distinctiveness of the places and the resources are stimulated to generate new occasions for growth and new requests of development and research. The experience restores a leading role to the local craftsmen and small and medium businesses, reactivating a technological culture lying dormant to generate spin off and new economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the experimental results of a Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) implementation that tests the holistic approach for an integrated urban water management system as an adaptation measure to cope with climate change in socio-environmental vulnerability conditions. The work is based on a sociotechnical perspective for the development of micro-scale water sensitive measures in East Naples (Southern Italy), a deprived multi-risk area where emerging socioecological criticalities are calling to formulate adaptive strategies that consider local community claims and embed bottom-up processes. Community-based design actions are proved to be effective for the co-production of resilience practices, including the social capital in climate-resilient transition of the built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay proposes an alternative approach to the design and location of emergency housing for refugees. Beginning with past experiences that demonstrate how cultural diversity and cohabitation have served as an impulse for change and development in host countries, the paper reflects on choices of location that overcome the current solution of spatial segregation in favour of territorial distribution. This approach is applied to the case study of Tel Aviv through strategies that operate: at the level of the building by adopting envelopes that adapt to existing buildings, at the level of the dwelling through recognisable and customisable and at the level of the city through connections and reciprocal opportunities involving all actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the results of the research fellowship project "Città Inclusiva/ Città Sicura"1 aimed at defining strategies to promote urban safety. The research project used a specific methodological approach to implement a prototype model for urban safety management. It proposed the development of an action plan for a model of inclusive and safe city drawing on the French ESSP (Public Safety and Security Studies). The plan includes a series of actions of spatial and functional regeneration of the existing assets optimizing the relationship with the new infrastructures of dialogue and reception. Furthermore, it could contribute to solving the problems related to the physical, technological and environmental adaptation of urban contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper gives an overview of the evolution of North American design culture centered around the implementation of inclusive processes aimed at overcoming urban, physical and social barriers, and addressing environmental degradation and injustice. Design activism is analyzed in theoretical terms as conceived and taught in the major North American universities and its impact assessed with reference to how its tenets have been applied by designers and large city administrators. Conclusive reflections concern the outcome of these technical expertise and urban area management practices, and include considerations on the role of socially responsible designers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to identify the potential for integration, within BIM approach, the multi-criteria evaluation methods to improve the effectiveness of the award process of tendering, by defining an alternative method to more traditional procedures. To reach this aim four public procurement have been analyzed for the construction of educational facilities in the Metropolitan City of Naples. It was later represented the procedure of one of the four contracts previously analyzed, through the synergy of building information modeling and PROMETHEE method. The study has identified interesting results in relation to the objectives of speeding up the phase of evaluation and preparation of the final ranking, as well as of the transparency of this phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intend to deepen, within the broad theme of technological culture, theory and practice of architectural project, at which industrial culture does and will refer the architectural project in the near future, emphasizing the potential that contemporary techniques are slowly but pervasively offering to the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper considers the implications that parametric and algorithmic tools have on the innovation of the design practice. An explicit approach to project design is considered with the aim of providing a new interpretative key and possible directions for future development of new tools and design conceptions. A brief reflection contextualises the matter in the literature to support an innovative conception of digital implications on the design practice focused on a classification of digital eras, which is both theoretical and supported by simple application examples. The described theoretical and methodological approach identifies three main implication areas of digital technologies in the technological design practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper offers cause for reflection on the most advanced training and research trends in the area of design-related technologies through a critical review of the views expressed by the heads of some of the leading educational establishments in the field of design. What are the contributions provided by engineering sciences and humanities to transforming the discipline? What are the innovative topics and updating of the discipline's limits, among material construction culture and extension of digital tools? A complex set of positions comes to light through organized collection of 'evidence' which stimulates reflection on the most advanced features of the role of technology in relation to design and on the appropriateness of updating the discipline's features in Italian universities within an international reference framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the challenges and opportunities offered by the digital culture, it is necessary to study the role of the new information tools to understand how some of the scenarios belonging to the design practices and industrial and building culture have changed. This paper deals with the issues about the design constructability, with reference to the use of digital methodologies that encouraging collaborations, control and previsions, seem to shorten significantly the distances between design and construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the building performance evaluation, as a methodological approach to the analysis of existing building systems, aimed at supporting the decision-making process for rehabilitation and / or adaptive reuse. It presents a critical review of national and international studies and enlightens the different conditions and ways of application, in the case of empty buildings compared to those in use. In conclusion, it introduces some limits of such methodologies with respect to appropriate knowledge objectives when applied to buildings with particular or magnificent characters, as well as some possible research lines to be explored so to overcome them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to investigate the theme of the Call, the distinction between theory and practice, based on a reflection on Architecture and demonstrating that one of the specifics of this art of construction - or artistic practice as in the well-known definition by Vittorio Gregotti – is in the relationship between thought and artefact intended not in antithetic terms but of hermeneutic circularity. The investigation of points of view and the analysis of exempla are, respectively, premise and demonstration of a reasoning that aims to define, specifically referring to methods and techniques within a theory of architectural design, an "orientated point of view" starting from which a reflection on the relationship between theory and practice is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Il paper intende indagare la distinzione tra teoria e prassi, oggetto della Call, a partire da una riflessione sull'architettura dimostrando come una delle specificità di quella che può ancora nominarsi arte del costruire - o "pratica artistica" nella nota definizione di Vittorio Gregotti - sia quella di intendere il rapporto tra pensiero e opera non in termini antitetici ma di imprescindibile circolarità ermeneutica. La disamina delle posizioni in campo e l'analisi di exempla costituiscono, rispettivamente, premessa e dimostrazione di un ragionamento che, con specifico riferimento a metodi e tecniche nell'ambito di una teoria della progettazione, vuole definire il "punto di vista orientato" a partire dal quale si è inteso proporre la riflessione sul rapporto teoria/prassi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The boost in social housing interventions is the answer to the growing demand for new housing caused by higher social vulnerability in the wake of the economic and financial crisis in Europe. It meets the goal of inclusive growth, as defined in Europe 2020's growth strategy. This paper deals with this issue starting from an analysis of the social events that are worsening the housing problem in Europe, and which are exasperated by the anti-crisis measures implemented by the Governments of the most financially stricken countries. This paper then highlights the key role played by social managers as the element that guarantees intervention sustainability. The case-study of the Fondazione Housing Sociale demonstrates how the social manager is a key element in social housing interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Il paper esamina i temi emergenti riguardanti l'edilizia residenziale pubblica a Singapore. L'80% della popolazione vive in alloggi di edilizia pubblica ed invecchia rapidamente; il tema degli anziani è dunque di fondamentale importanza per lo sviluppo futuro. Secondo le direttive emanate dall'Housing and Development Board, il paper esamina i nuovi indirizzi applicati a differenti ambiti e scale di intervento: dal territorio urbano agli appartamenti. Vengono rivisitati temi come l'ageing in place, la dignità, la salutogenesi, la vita attiva ed indipendente, l'immagine, l'identificazione ed altri inerenti l'anzianità. Concetti recenti come high-rise/high density (edifici alti/alta densità), consumismo, branding, suggeriscono che l'approccio dogmatico consolidato al tema delle abitazioni per gli anziani, può essere modificato verso un design creativo, economicamente accessibile, redditizio ed integrato. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sale of public real estate assets is one of the main issues in the governments agenda. The goal is to find resources and improve the management of the building stock. Such assets are different from each other and transformation involves issues of urban and regional importance. Former military sites are mainly characterized by: different types (barracks, military airports, military bases, military hospitals, firing ranges, powder magazine, ports), spread out, obsolescence and environmental liabilities. Also historical buildings are relatively few in the military building stock. It follows that these assets cannot be converted to other uses without a technological knowledge. The paper discusses the key issues in rehabilitation of the military sites with particular attention to recent international experiences. The paper then goes on to focus the role of the research institutions in the screening required of the military real estate to be divested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an applied research concerning the architectural detailing project of a refinery control centre in Morocco. The project was aimed at delivering the most appropriate control room conditions for the operators in charge of the supervision, so that they could operate in the best possible environmental performances, minimizing human errors and maximizing reliability and availability of facility operations in their whole. The paper describes methodological approach and results of the study, discussing how users' needs and expectations resulting from analysis of job activities, together with a wide set of applicable technical standard and regulations, have brought to technical specifications integrating safety critical requirements into architectural detailing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dismissed architectures and urban voids are often considered revitalization chances for the cities. At the same time they are an urban problem, tied to structural crisis and social decay. The research take on the relationship between the safeguard of historical industrial buildings and new needs in terms of eco-compatibility, global cost and energy. Through the results of an application of life cycle design, the paper aims at demonstrating the importance of tools for the analysis supporting strategical evaluations for the sustainable planning of urban renewal through the reclamation of dismissed industrial sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the synthesis of multi-year research activities carried out with the support of Sapienza University in collaboration with some local authorities and private entities on integrated refurbishment planning of tertiary buildings. The outcomes of research are aimed at the construction of a replicable methodology for the preliminary analysis and evaluations useful for deep renovation of tertiary building heritage. During the various steps of the study, there were selected pilot buildings throughout the country, addressed to validate theorical assumptions of research, and to check actual strategies of integrated refurbishment of buildings mainly used for directional, educational and research activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports the results of a phase of the research Project "Urban Eco-efficiency," developed by the Architecture Department at the University of Naples Federico II, in collaboration with the regional section of the CeNSU. The thesis is the efficiency of incremental processes through temporary installations and uses in order to insert in historic centers innovative architectures and functions that are aimed at eco-efficient transformations. The experimentation conducted through the program for the enhancement of the historic Naples waterfront, in which the research group participated, allowed us to verify the thesis, in areas where the temporary dimension and bottom-up processes that typically characterize it are adequately coordinated in a unitary plan, with a sensitive de-escalation of the infighting, both institutional and between stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European historic city centres are currently experiencing innovative approaches for rehabilitation of urban spaces afflicted by social and physical decay. The revitalization challenges are a consequence of the integration of contemporary technologies and solutions to achieve new requirements and of the impacts of socio-economic dynamics. Understanding and boosting the drivers connected to the cultural potential of the historic city centres can play an important role in adaptive re-use. This paper focuses on the synergy between cultural heritage and urban development, cultural heritage preservation and local economic growth, proposing adaptive reuse design practices applied in historic city centre, through the adoption of a multi-criteria methodology for heritage-led regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid obsolescence of healthcare facilities and the lack of suitable areas to host these services in urban contexts, are forcing their locations outside cities and historical centres. The complexity and variety of crucial aspects, involved in the smooth functioning of healthcare facilities, require, in the longterm, planning decisions supported by appropriate evaluation tools. Starting from the investigation of hospital location trends in Europe and Italy, the analysis of European case studies and a deep systematic review of the literature, the paper aims to define a set of criteria focused on the design of location strategies for new healthcare facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central issue in the debate about settlements' recovery is today, the definition of the relationships between pre-existing and new design intents, between managing transitions, on the one hand, and promoting socio-economic development dynamics, on the other. The paper describes the experience of Living Lab, activated in Sassano, in the Park of Cilento and Vallo of Diano, by the Maintenance and Recovery Laboratory, Di-ARC, part of the interdisciplinary research project Cilento LabScape (Faro Funding, 2013-2015). Within an 18-month trial, the built environment identity and the settled community values were the focal points of a meta-design arena, which brought together citizens, construction companies, administrators and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]