- Innovative Technologies in Construction Industry, Material Architecture, Material Culture Studies, Environmental Sustainability, Nanotechnology, Cultural Heritage Conservation, and 10 moreArchaeological temporary shelters, Architectural Details, Architectural detailing, Civil Engineering, Engineering, Technology, Archaeology, Ecology, Architecture, and Sustainable Developmentedit
- PhD, Associate Professor of Building Technology at the Department of Architecture of the University of Palermo and le... morePhD, Associate Professor of Building Technology at the Department of Architecture of the University of Palermo and lecturer at the Laboratory of Construction and at Environmental Designedit
The goals of climate neutrality by 2050 and the reduction of CO2 emissions by 55% (compared to the 1990 level) by 2030 (European Commission, 2019, 2021) pose the European Union, and even more so the rest of the world, with several complex... more
The goals of climate neutrality by 2050 and the reduction of CO2 emissions by 55% (compared to the 1990 level) by 2030 (European Commission, 2019, 2021) pose the European Union, and even more so the rest of the world, with several complex issues, including a significant increase in ‘clean’ energy production from alternative and renewable sources, the reduction of energy poverty, greater security of energy supply and a drastic decrease in dependence on energy imports; at the same time, the aim is to foster modern economic growth decoupled from the use of non-renewable resources, the creation of new jobs, and to generate environmental and health benefits, objectives with inevitable cultural, political, economic, production, technological and social implications to be addressed both within one’s borders and in foreign policy. The energy transition is, therefore, complex and challenging to implement because it involves ‘everything’ and is needed ‘everywhere’ but also because globally, primary energy consumption has been steadily increasing for at least half a century.
The theoretical and experimental framework presented demonstrates how energy, ecological and digital transitions can contribute synergistically to achieving the goals of decarbonisation and climate neutrality. The contributions published in the form of essays and research papers appear consistent with the 2022 Strategic Foresight Report (European Commission, 2022) based on the JRC report entitled Towards a Green and Digital Future – Key Requirements for Successful Twin Transitions in the European Union (Muench et alii, 2022) and founded on the fundamental concepts of (a) ‘twin’ transitions, as the key to a sustainable, fair and competitive future; (b) ‘just’ transition, for widespread acceptance of green and digital solutions to mitigate consumption and improve efficiency; (c) ‘integrated approach’ to challenges, to maximise the benefits of synergies and better manage risks. From the published contributions, it emerges the need for a paradigm shift that, on the one hand, is characterised by a ‘sufficiency’ approach (regarding new land occupation and new constructions) and a circular economy (to limit the use of non-renewable resources) capable of exploiting the potential of technologies for the new services made possible by digitisation, and on the other hand, relies on new user awareness of the limits of the Planet, pursuable through ‘soft’ urgent actions that are robust, flexible and easy to implement as they require a lower financial commitment. We assume that community energy renewable energy production from hydrogen and production chains can help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. In that case, the vast existing real estate heritage is an area in which it is possible to intervene effectively, even where it has a historical and cultural value, using tools such as digital twins or analysis methodologies capable of assessing ex-ante the impacts on the ecosystem and prefigure scenarios for cities, buildings and production processes aimed at sustainable development and compatible with the urgent objectives set for 2030 and 2050. These are some of the strategies, pathways, measures and actions that can take place by exploiting the availability of the substantial financial resources allocated by governments for transitions, stimulating the sensitivity of local administrators and enhancing the skills and transversal competencies of technicians and operators in the sector, but also and above all by raising users’ awareness of the risks posed by climate change, to activate their ‘behavioural’ response to the consumption of energy and non-renewable natural resources.
The theoretical and experimental framework presented demonstrates how energy, ecological and digital transitions can contribute synergistically to achieving the goals of decarbonisation and climate neutrality. The contributions published in the form of essays and research papers appear consistent with the 2022 Strategic Foresight Report (European Commission, 2022) based on the JRC report entitled Towards a Green and Digital Future – Key Requirements for Successful Twin Transitions in the European Union (Muench et alii, 2022) and founded on the fundamental concepts of (a) ‘twin’ transitions, as the key to a sustainable, fair and competitive future; (b) ‘just’ transition, for widespread acceptance of green and digital solutions to mitigate consumption and improve efficiency; (c) ‘integrated approach’ to challenges, to maximise the benefits of synergies and better manage risks. From the published contributions, it emerges the need for a paradigm shift that, on the one hand, is characterised by a ‘sufficiency’ approach (regarding new land occupation and new constructions) and a circular economy (to limit the use of non-renewable resources) capable of exploiting the potential of technologies for the new services made possible by digitisation, and on the other hand, relies on new user awareness of the limits of the Planet, pursuable through ‘soft’ urgent actions that are robust, flexible and easy to implement as they require a lower financial commitment. We assume that community energy renewable energy production from hydrogen and production chains can help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. In that case, the vast existing real estate heritage is an area in which it is possible to intervene effectively, even where it has a historical and cultural value, using tools such as digital twins or analysis methodologies capable of assessing ex-ante the impacts on the ecosystem and prefigure scenarios for cities, buildings and production processes aimed at sustainable development and compatible with the urgent objectives set for 2030 and 2050. These are some of the strategies, pathways, measures and actions that can take place by exploiting the availability of the substantial financial resources allocated by governments for transitions, stimulating the sensitivity of local administrators and enhancing the skills and transversal competencies of technicians and operators in the sector, but also and above all by raising users’ awareness of the risks posed by climate change, to activate their ‘behavioural’ response to the consumption of energy and non-renewable natural resources.
Research Interests:
Design, understood as a modern discipline in its broadest sense, has always been inextricably linked to energy production, availability and accessibility. Every project resulting from human creativity and ingenuity, whether material or... more
Design, understood as a modern discipline in its broadest sense, has always been inextricably linked to energy production, availability and accessibility. Every project resulting from human creativity and ingenuity, whether material or immaterial, analogue or digital, depends on it; it is necessary to break free from this atavistic dependence by finding alternative paths that lead us to the energy transition. An increase in human awareness is required to accomplish this and achieve social and environmental equity. In this perspective, this paper, starting with the concepts of ‘mitigation’, ‘sufficiency’, ‘circular economy’ and ‘innovability’, illustrates a number of highly replicable experiments carried out by the multidisciplinary Dotdotdot Studio by employing storytelling, emotive technology and the value of data to generate awareness in users on the issue of energy conservation.
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The potential for architecture offered by natural materials in terms of comfort, reduction of embodied energy and energy-saving in the operational phase, dictates in-depth research that might highlight advantages and contribute to... more
The potential for architecture offered by natural materials in terms of comfort, reduction of embodied energy and energy-saving in the operational phase, dictates in-depth research that might highlight advantages and contribute to improving their characteristics. This research focuses on earth bricks and, in particular, a type of brick made from unfired clay, known as adobe. The aim of the research is to verify improvements in performance of adobe with the aid of nanotechnology. The adobe mixture was prepared with water, soil (from Sicily) and LAPONITE® as a stabilizer. The adobe bricks were subjected to tests of resistance to compression and flexion, resistance to abrasion, capillary absorption of water and resistance to impact. The results may be deemed positive, in particular those relating to resistance to compression. Further research will be necessary, especially with regard to problems of water absorption.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Nanotechnology is a science that utilises methods and techniques to manipulate material on a size-scale smaller than a micrometre (normally between 1 and 100 nanometres) and has the aim of producing materials with particular... more
Nanotechnology is a science that utilises methods and techniques to manipulate material on a size-scale smaller than a micrometre (normally between 1 and 100 nanometres) and has the aim of producing materials with particular chemical-physical characteristics. It constitutes a true multi-disciplinary sphere of investigation, involving numerous areas of research, ranging from molecular biology to chemistry, from the science of materials to (applied and basic) physics, to mechanical and electronic engineering. Nanotechnology\u2019s present and future applications render this an issue of great current interest, bearing in mind not only its innovative character, but also its possible impact on industrial applications and, therefore, our daily lives; it has a capacity to spark off a real 21st century industrial revolution. Its the importance is confirmed by the interest shown by all the major world powers, including the USA, China, South Korea, India, not to mention Europe of course; these are devising long-term programmes devoted exclusively to the development of nanotechnology. In the architectural sphere the use of nano-structured materials interests the building in its entirety, from the basic structure to the walling, from lighting to energy production. However, the contribution of nanotechnology is not restricted to newly-built structures, but represents an opportunity for an overhaul of the whole cultural heritage. This sector includes experimentation on nano-structured materials for cleaning and reinforcement on stonework samples from the archaeological site of Morgantina. For this purpose, nano-structured systems have been devised and proved effective in the cleaning process, utilised as cleaning agents with the characteristics of a gel. As for the reinforcement of stonework, hybrid nano-structured polymers have been synthesised and tested; the presence of the organic and inorganic components guaranteed a sound performance. Apart from issues of cleaning and the reinforcement of stonework, that of enhancing the performance of a traditional material such as earth was tackled, with its utilisation not only in the sphere of historical architectural restoration but also in new constructions. The research aims to create nano-composite materials, a new class of material characterised by an ultra-fine dispersion of elements, typically of the order of a few nano-metres; in virtue of this dispersion the nanocomposites possess unique properties, not shared by conventional composites or micro-composites. In other terms, the research aims to bolster earth with nano-structured reinforcement, in order to improve the chemical-physical and mechanical performance of the final product. The research involves aspects of the cultural and material tradition, as well as innovation, as a criterion for renewing building methods. To sum up, nanotechnology certainly represents an advance in the scientific field, its potential being enormous. The fact should not be neglected that this science requires investigation of the risks for human health, due to the utilisation of materials manipulated on the nanometric scale; in this regard notes of caution have been voiced regarding the toxic nature of various nanostructured materials. The only path to take for the safeguard of health and environment, in our opinion, is to invest as much as possible in research and knowledge, especially with the involvement of public organisations
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This paper describes the methodology of research and analy- sis that have been adopted in order to develop the targets of the project, along with the design proposal. A literature review about urban regeneration ad its best practices and... more
This paper describes the methodology of research and analy- sis that have been adopted in order to develop the targets of the project, along with the design proposal. A literature review about urban regeneration ad its best practices and a deep study of the various features and peculiarities of the area has been conducted. Such a study guided the definition of the criteria that must be ap- plied to develop the project. The proposal of urban regeneration aims to retrain the whole di- strict by retrofitting ENPAM\u2019s buildings and industrial sheds by the railway as well as redesigning the public spaces and the green areas. The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. The first section overviews the state of art about urban regeneration, taking into account the theories, the regulations, and the best practices. The adopted methodology of analysis and the situation of the ur- ban sector is reported in the second section, as well as underlining critical issues and project requirements emerged. Design criteria and the project proposal is described in the third section
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Le tonnare, complessi morfologicamente e tipologicamente significativi nell\u2019ampio panorama dei beni culturali, sono oggetto di studio dell\u2019archeologia industriale. Esse possono essere risorse immobiliari utilizzabili per fini... more
Le tonnare, complessi morfologicamente e tipologicamente significativi nell\u2019ampio panorama dei beni culturali, sono oggetto di studio dell\u2019archeologia industriale. Esse possono essere risorse immobiliari utilizzabili per fini speculativi di riconversione ad usi pi\uf9 remunerativi: gli interventi sui grandi complessi innescano spesso processi pi\uf9 ampi del rinnovo urbano, sollecitando nuove strategie di sviluppo basato sul rinnovamento dell\u2019immagine e sul significato simbolico che pu\uf2 assumere l\u2019intervento. In quanto risorse urbane, possono promuovere strategie di riorganizzazione territoriale mediante la rilocalizzazione di servizi, quali i musei, oppure lo sviluppo di attivit\ue0 innovative, come i centri di formazione o sperimentazione. In quanto beni culturali, sono testimoni di memorie e di valori simbolici, riutilizzabili per la valorizzazione di se stessi, ma anche per riqualificare ampie porzioni di tessuto urbano. In quanto risorse ambientali possono favorire il recupero tanto di spazi urbani aperti, quanto di parti di paesaggio in cui si collocano. Cos\uec, risultano di particolare interesse i contributi di: Francesca Scalisi, sulla storia delle tonnare; di Cesare Sposito, che analizza la loro architettura e lo sviluppo che la tipologia ha avuto nel tempo; di Elio Capr\uec, che propone un intervento di recupero per la Favignana; infine di Giuseppina Colicci, sulla cialoma, tipico canto legato al lavoro. Un repertorio di immagini sulle tonnare Florio e Bordonaro in Palermo, conclude la pubblicazione
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In the context of environmental emergency of which the construction sector is one of the main causes – since it consumes 40% of the (embodied and operational) energy and produces about a third of the total waste – and due to the ambitious... more
In the context of environmental emergency of which the construction sector is one of the main causes – since it consumes 40% of the (embodied and operational) energy and produces about a third of the total waste – and due to the ambitious objectives set by the international community and by many countries to reduce the environmental impact of buildings during their whole life cycle, this paper wants to make a contribution to the understanding of the state of the art on cycle-based research activities, sustainable experiments and good practices that the building industry and the academy have implemented in recent years. In particular, it refers to cycle-based theoretical and experimental actions involving process and product innovations at different scales (‘macro’, ‘meso’ and ‘micro’) of the built environment. They are capable of overcoming the traditional linear approach to use an approach aiming, on the one hand, to extend the service life cycle, and on the other, to evaluate new...
Research Interests: Business, Architectural Engineering, Sustainable Development, Recycling, Sustainable Building Design, and 9 moreBuilt Environment, Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Architecture, Embodied Energy, Recycled Materials, Upcycling, Circular Economy, Design for Manufacturing and Assembly, and Sustainability
Bioeconomy, circular economy, land use reduction, sustainable use of natural resources, reduction of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere and recycling are the keywords which the building world must face in the near future, as the... more
Bioeconomy, circular economy, land use reduction, sustainable use of natural resources, reduction of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere and recycling are the keywords which the building world must face in the near future, as the environmental emergency can no longer be postponed. In order to disseminate in the scientific community the different possibilities of timber as a sustainable building material throughout its whole life cycle and to provide the professionals with suitable decision-making tools for a conscious design, within the cultural and scientific scenario of the recent years, the paper serves as a moment of reflection highlighting how a closer integration between different sectors (forestry, building, energy, industrial and waste management) can find, in the use of timber, an opportunity to significantly reduce the overall impact of a built environment life cycle
Research Interests: Business, Engineering, Forestry, Architecture, Environmental Sustainability, and 11 more- High-rise building (Architecture), Biobased Economy, Sustainable Skyrise Vertical Greenery Development, Timber Architecture, Circular Economy, Timber use in construction, Cross-Laminated Timber, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA ), Environmental Product Declaration, Sustainability, and Natural glues
The book presents reflections on the centrality of Design in the discipline of Technology of Architecture and on the need to adapt the design method to the innovation of thought implemented by the research world. The theme of the... more
The book presents reflections on the centrality of Design in the discipline of Technology of Architecture and on the need to adapt the design method to the innovation of thought implemented by the research world. The theme of the Innovation in the Method of Technological Design is an interesting challenge that in this volume has been addressed considering the complexity of the levels of thematic depth, opening up to critical reflections, proposals for tools and illustration of case studies that show the breadth, relevance and multidimensionality of this issue. The era of digital and information technology have significantly influenced the way of doing and thinking in architecture and this evolution of design thinking takes on different connotations in training or professional practice. In the volume, it is transversally observable as the degree of innovation is to be found in the contents (ideas, techniques and procedures), as well as in the tools. The need to adapt the design method to the innovation of thought, carried out and encouraged by the world of research, obliges us to rethink the existing contents and training paths that must generate it and to privilege the didactic experiences in which the traditional procedure (frontal teaching, individual study, profit examination) is passed. Since the labour market rewards those who demonstrate their ability to control the design process with creativity and predictability, concreteness and feasibility, sensitivity and respect for the transforming environment, the book proposes the centrality of the technological project, based on a technical culture, since it is able to guarantee the correct use of resources and an appropriate management of the transformation process. New paradigms of regenerative architecture, \u2018cradle to cradle\u2019 approach, methodological approach to the design of shelters in archaeological sites, building with water, materials for digital production in architecture are interesting design experiments wisely described: the development of such a debate can also lead to useful contributions to the development of technological thinking
Research Interests:
La conoscenza storica, archeologica, geometrica, materica e tecnologia di reperti archeologici \ue8 un prerequisito per la progettazione di sistemi di protezione, in grado di soddisfare la duplice funzione conservativa e fruitiva del... more
La conoscenza storica, archeologica, geometrica, materica e tecnologia di reperti archeologici \ue8 un prerequisito per la progettazione di sistemi di protezione, in grado di soddisfare la duplice funzione conservativa e fruitiva del bene; in tal modo, attraverso nuove forme e mezzi di comunicazione, questi oggetti "semiofori" potranno ritrovare l'identit\ue0 perduta e vedere riconosciuto il proprio valore. Questo contributo fornisce elementi di riflessione per valutare i sistemi di protezione del patrimonio archeologico, gi\ue0 fase di pianificazione del processo di conservazione e di messa in valore
Research Interests:
The potential for architecture offered by natural materials in terms of comfort, reduction of embodied energy and energy-saving in the operational phase, dictates in-depth research that might highlight advantages and contribute to... more
The potential for architecture offered by natural materials in terms of comfort, reduction of embodied energy and energy-saving in the operational phase, dictates in-depth research that might highlight advantages and contribute to improving their characteristics. This research focuses on earth bricks and, in particular, a type of brick made from unfired clay, known as adobe. The aim of the research is to verify improvements in performance of adobe with the aid of nanotechnology. The adobe mixture was prepared with water, soil (from Sicily) and LAPONITE® as a stabilizer. The adobe bricks were subjected to tests of resistance to compression and flexion, resistance to abrasion, capillary absorption of water and resistance to impact. The results may be deemed positive, in particular those relating to resistance to compression. Further research will be necessary, especially with regard to problems of water absorption.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Today’s propulsive push towards the 3th millennium, driven forward by technological innovation, needs to grapple with an economic and environmental global crisis. Generally speaking water is synonymous with life; in bio-climatic... more
Today’s propulsive push towards the 3th millennium, driven forward by technological innovation, needs to grapple with an economic and environmental global crisis. Generally speaking water is synonymous with life; in bio-climatic architecture it is synonymous with thermal comfort, since water is able to regulate the micro-climate of various interiors, help solar radiation and brighten up internal spaces. There is more, however. In certain cases, water becomes an actual building element: thanks to the considerable power of its thermal mass, it can be used in passive solar systems (with the “drum wall” in place of stone, brick or concrete walls), through the employment of the “trombe” wall, or the “roof radiation trap”, widely theorized and tested by Baruch Givoni. It is necessary to consider the importance and the role that water plays in our lives, and reaffirm the technologies of the pre-industrial period: phito-purification, passive water-cooling, the use of permeable paving, etc. This is basically a cultural issue that concerns all operators and disciplines contributing to the definition of the building process. This note describes a series of recent interventions in which water becomes the central, symbolic and material element.
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Nowadays, the protection in situ, the enhancement and the fruition of archaeological sites are issues that are even more relevant, if we take into account the effects caused, in recent decades, by climate change both on the conservation... more
Nowadays, the protection in situ, the enhancement and the fruition of archaeological sites are issues that are even more relevant, if we take into account the effects caused, in recent decades, by climate change both on the conservation of the most fragile artefacts and on the well-being of visitors. New questions related to the \u2018recover of identity\u2019 are raised by the relationships that the protection interventions establish with the environmental context (external) and with the ancient ruins (internal), imposing an interpretation of the project as a union of landscape, morphological, climatic, technical, use and management aspects, or by requiring a holistic and integrated approach, from a disciplinary point of view, and systemic, from a technical point of view. Without wishing to provide a set of predefined solutions, the contribution presents some innovative and reliable protection systems with a paradigmatic and exemplary character for architectural and construction quality, flexibility and adaptability of the space, energy and environmental performance, so that they can be a stimulus for areas of research and experimentation in specific archaeological sites
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Within the scientific debate on the conservation of Cultural Heritage in general and Archaeological Heritage in particular, due to its twofold nature (material and immaterial) and consistently with the interest taken by Technological... more
Within the scientific debate on the conservation of Cultural Heritage in general and Archaeological Heritage in particular, due to its twofold nature (material and immaterial) and consistently with the interest taken by Technological Culture in the importance of those aspects in the process crucial for their proper development and broad enjoyment, this paper proposes an evaluation model to understand ‘what’ to preserve and ‘why’ for a sustainable development, even before considering ‘how’ to do so, allowing a clearer reading and an easier interpretation of the complex relationships existing between the archaeological pre-existences, the natural environments and the added anthropic systems. The offered evaluation model can guide operators towards conscious sheltering planning with architectural value, promoting the identification of the morphological, typological and technical-constructive solutions most suitable to return the potential significance of the Asset.
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Le modalità con cui viviamo, indipendentemente dal luogo in cui ciò avviene, hanno un impatto sulla biosfera e determinano reazioni a catena in ambiti differenti che influenzano tanto la natura quanto l'essere umano a scala globale:... more
Le modalità con cui viviamo, indipendentemente dal luogo in cui ciò avviene, hanno un impatto sulla biosfera e determinano reazioni a catena in ambiti differenti che influenzano tanto la natura quanto l'essere umano a scala globale: cambiamento climatico, rischi per la salute e perdita della biodiversità concorrono a una condizione di policrisi che amplifica lo stato di incertezza sul nostro futuro e la vulnerabilità dell'intero ecosistema, soprattutto perché le azioni progettuali messe in campo non affrontano la cogente questione ambientale in chiave sistemica e olistica. In quest'ottica il contributo si fa promotore di una integrazione dei tre strumenti di analisi LCA, ERA ed ESA per valutare l'insieme degli impatti e dei benefici delle attività antropiche alle diverse scale spaziali e temporali mettendone in evidenza punti di forza, limiti e criticità, ma anche obiettivi, metodologie di indagine, metriche e percorsi causa-effetto, riferendo con approccio critico anche delle recenti attività di ricerca che hanno tentato una loro combinazione.
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The article reports essays and research that, while not exhaustive of the innumerable declinations that can be taken on by the module to address, discretise and solve the complexity of the built environment, highlight its multiscalar... more
The article reports essays and research that, while not exhaustive of the innumerable declinations that can be taken on by the module to address, discretise and solve the complexity of the built environment, highlight its multiscalar nature and its conceptual and usage flexibility. With their infinite application scales, ‘from the spoon to the city’ (Rogers, 1952), the ‘module’ and ‘modularity’ resurface strongly in the new Millennium and can become a paradigm in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2015) if associated with the themes of reversibility and accessibility, in addition, the varied conceptual and instrumental declinations of ‘module’ and ‘modularity’ can provide support throughout the entire life cycle of a system, optimising its ideational, production/implementation and management phases in Landscape, City, Architecture and Industrial Design, enabling the overcoming of a static and linear view of the built environment through ‘open’, ‘flexible’, ‘adaptive’, ‘multi-scalar’ and ‘sustainable’ systems especially when managed through intelligent digital tools.
Research Interests: Design, Architecture, Ecosystem Services, Landscape Architecture, Industrial Design, and 12 moreProduct Design, Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Architecture, Landscape, Additive Manufacturing, Additive Manufacturing and 3D printing, Module, Architecture and Public Spaces, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA ), Modularity Design Study, Envirnmental Risk Assesment, and 4d Printing
AGATHÓN Volume 13 follows its predecessor on Innovability©® | Digital Transition and collects essays and research on Innovability©® | Ecological Transition, aware of its pressing relevance, but also of the scope suggested by the proposed... more
AGATHÓN Volume 13 follows its predecessor on Innovability©® | Digital Transition and collects essays and research on Innovability©® | Ecological Transition, aware of its pressing relevance, but also of the scope suggested by the proposed dual key of interpretation. The published papers convey several reflections and research trajectories based on the need for a multiscalar nature of interventions, which guarantees effects that are induced to a broader environmental context than the one of reference, and for teams that address critical issues with a holistic and systemic inter- and transdisciplinary collaborative approach, in a sort of speciation of disciplines that modifies their traditional statutes; what emerges then is that the intangible and material tools we can deploy today are numerous also thanks to the possibilities offered by digital technologies in the different design, implementation and management phases of the process.
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The contribution introduces the topic covered by vol. 12 of AGATHÓN through essays, studies, research and projects on Innovability©® | Digital Transition to investigate the current widespread transformation that unites dichotomies... more
The contribution introduces the topic covered by vol. 12 of AGATHÓN through essays, studies, research and projects on Innovability©® | Digital Transition to investigate the current widespread transformation that unites dichotomies (analogue and digital), enhances oxymorons (artificial intelligence), creates paradoxes (materiality of the intangible), while indiscriminately involving architecture, humanities and social sciences, anthropology, sociology, ecology, biology, physical-mathematical sciences and neurosciences, with impacts that – while already visible today and accelerated in part by the extraordinary global health emergency – will become even more evident in the medium and long term. A ‘digital’ transformation, which academics such as Floridi (2020) and Galimberti (2020), but also Haraway (2018), Searle (2017) and Chomsky (2011), have placed on a primarily ontological and epistemological level insofar as it involves the essence of ‘things,’ the way we define them, the world around us, and in particular our relationship with the elements that constitute it.
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AGATHÓN issue number 11 is a collection of essays, studies, research and projects on Greenery | Its Symbiosis with the Built Environment. It recalls the role that nature and greenery, in general, can play in the short term to address the... more
AGATHÓN issue number 11 is a collection of essays, studies, research and projects on Greenery | Its Symbiosis with the Built Environment. It recalls the role that nature and greenery, in general, can play in the short term to address the current global warming and climate change challenges. They are caused by deforestation and forest fires, urban sprawl, indiscriminate use of non-renewable raw materials and an increase in carbon dioxide emissions. These elements cause a devastating impact on our fragile ecosystem, society and the economy. In 1969, Simon had already guessed the potential of a ‘new ecology’ whose animate and inanimate elements of the built environment characterise a ‘unified’ landscape. Beynus’ studies are a knowledge heritage useful for the informed and responsible regeneration of the built environment. Over the millennia, Nature has perfected strategies and solutions, processes and mechanisms to adapt to different climates and physical conditions through the rationalisation of the use of matter and energy by optimising material and immaterial metabolic exchanges.
While the Modern Movement has considered landscape, urbanism, architecture and design as separate disciplines, in the new millennium there is a ‘scalar shift’ in which they are considered part of a unified territorial system, in which we are called to overcome anthropocentrism and to design for man and living beings, in a connection made of profound knowledge and understanding of the trajectories and reciprocal needs of human and non-human beings. The relationship between the parts of the system takes on crucial importance when we adopt a broader and more systemic vision, supported by a holistic and participatory approach. Digital technologies can support this ‘double convergence’ in their shift towards a ‘cybernetic ecology’ allowing us to see the natural and artificial world as a unicum.
The theoretical and experimental framework presented by AGATHÓN issue number 11, although not exhaustive of the potential of nature-based solutions, shows that their cross-disciplinary essence can relevantly help – both with traditional and vernacular approaches/techniques and using IoT and digital technologies – to counteract the effects of climate change by creating a more resilient built environment, less vulnerable to erosive transformation dynamics, and to create healthier environments, enhance biodiversity, provide ecosystem services, improve quality of life, foster new economic and social opportunities and create value chains, while acting on urban regeneration processes with the circularity and multi-scalar tools as pillars. To achieve these goals in the shortest possible time and overcome the greenwashing bad practice in design, it is necessary to start a new paradigm based on the ‘shift from an economics of growth to an economics of belonging’ and on a ‘new ecology’ in which man and nature characterize an unprecedented ‘unified’ landscape in a profound bond made of mutual knowledge and understanding to build a relationship based on symbiosis, inclusion and adaptation at the different scales of the project. For example, by stimulating training initiatives such as those of the Valldaura Labs of the IAAC in Barcelona, which aim to disseminate practices for holistically integrated ecological and technological landscapes.
While the Modern Movement has considered landscape, urbanism, architecture and design as separate disciplines, in the new millennium there is a ‘scalar shift’ in which they are considered part of a unified territorial system, in which we are called to overcome anthropocentrism and to design for man and living beings, in a connection made of profound knowledge and understanding of the trajectories and reciprocal needs of human and non-human beings. The relationship between the parts of the system takes on crucial importance when we adopt a broader and more systemic vision, supported by a holistic and participatory approach. Digital technologies can support this ‘double convergence’ in their shift towards a ‘cybernetic ecology’ allowing us to see the natural and artificial world as a unicum.
The theoretical and experimental framework presented by AGATHÓN issue number 11, although not exhaustive of the potential of nature-based solutions, shows that their cross-disciplinary essence can relevantly help – both with traditional and vernacular approaches/techniques and using IoT and digital technologies – to counteract the effects of climate change by creating a more resilient built environment, less vulnerable to erosive transformation dynamics, and to create healthier environments, enhance biodiversity, provide ecosystem services, improve quality of life, foster new economic and social opportunities and create value chains, while acting on urban regeneration processes with the circularity and multi-scalar tools as pillars. To achieve these goals in the shortest possible time and overcome the greenwashing bad practice in design, it is necessary to start a new paradigm based on the ‘shift from an economics of growth to an economics of belonging’ and on a ‘new ecology’ in which man and nature characterize an unprecedented ‘unified’ landscape in a profound bond made of mutual knowledge and understanding to build a relationship based on symbiosis, inclusion and adaptation at the different scales of the project. For example, by stimulating training initiatives such as those of the Valldaura Labs of the IAAC in Barcelona, which aim to disseminate practices for holistically integrated ecological and technological landscapes.
Research Interests:
The Earth is in a vulnerable state that most scholars attribute to a model of infinite growth on a planet with limited resources. Taking into account this critical environmental context, the paper wants to stimulate new practices for the... more
The Earth is in a vulnerable state that most scholars attribute to a model of infinite growth on a planet with limited resources. Taking into account this critical environmental context, the paper wants to stimulate new practices for the building industry by suggesting a systemic vision that simultaneously uses multiple sustainable and circular approaches and allows eliminating scraps and waste, by combining traditional and innovative techniques and technologies. In particular, the article shows the potential of off-site in reducing environmental direct and indirect impacts compared to an equivalent conventional construction and recent research on the upcycling of discarded sea containers: they are used as a good practice to enhance an industrial end-of-life product (therefore considered a waste) by re-inserting it into a ‘circular’ economy with a different use than its original one, through non-destructive recycling and, at the same time, improving its value, quality and performance.
Research Interests:
Energia e Ambiente rappresentano due importanti temi con cui l’Architettura e il mondo delle costruzioni ha iniziato a confrontarsi negli ultimi due decenni, essendo il settore dell’edilizia responsabile del 36% del consumo energetico... more
Energia e Ambiente rappresentano due importanti temi con cui l’Architettura e il mondo delle costruzioni ha iniziato a confrontarsi negli ultimi due decenni, essendo il settore dell’edilizia responsabile del 36% del consumo energetico globale e del 39% delle emissioni di CO2 (UN Environment, 2018; Grafico 1). Nonostante la crisi economica globale dell’ultimo decennio, il settore delle costruzioni è cresciuto a ritmi senza precedenti e continuerà a farlo nei prossimi 40 anni, realizzando circa 230 miliardi di metri quadrati ogni anno, superficie equivalente a 52 volte la città di Parigi. Questa la premessa dell’autorevole Global Status Report 2017 delle Nazioni Unite (UN Environment, 2017) che prosegue poi con i dati sulla crescita dell’uso di energia negli edifici, passata dai 119 EJ del 2010 ai 125 EJ del 2017 (Grafico 2), con quelli sull’uso di combustibili fossili – rimasto pressoché costante nello stesso periodo a circa 45 EJ – e con quelli sulle emissioni di carbonio, aumentate...
Recent emergencies have triggered a series of proposals, revisions and regulatory updates. In Italy, as part of the Italian Decreto Rilancio, a proposal to introduce a compulsory building file seems to have been accepted. If this proposal... more
Recent emergencies have triggered a series of proposals, revisions and regulatory updates. In Italy, as part of the Italian Decreto Rilancio, a proposal to introduce a compulsory building file seems to have been accepted. If this proposal is followed up, we could soon see the collection of a series of data and information on the building stock of our cities. This contribution defines a proposal for the organisation of this systematic collection, suitably supported by advanced IT tools, to make possible the start of a renewed season of monitoring, management, planning and development of more resilient buildings and cities. The proposed idea is to channel the information and data on individual buildings into a single database that can provide a comprehensive, unambiguous and multi-scalar picture of the urban system.
The contribution frames the essays, studies, research and projects published in issue 9 of AGATHÓN on ‘The SecondLife of the Built Environment’, an interesting topic for universities, businesses and industry. Climate changes, excessive... more
The contribution frames the essays, studies, research and projects published in issue 9 of AGATHÓN on ‘The SecondLife of the Built Environment’, an interesting topic for universities, businesses and industry. Climate changes, excessive use of soil, renewable resources, ever-increasing production of waste, the current pandemic emergency and the global socio-economic crisis have in fact entered our daily life. Even if these are tragic issues, they can be, somehow, seized as an opportunity to rethink the way we live and our world. In this ‘revolutionary’ (Floridi, 2020) and ‘polycrisis’ (Losasso, 2020) context, specifically referring to the building industry, the Academy, the Research and Industry worlds are called to give answers – based on sustainability and the principles of the Green Deal but also and mostly of the new Bauhaus – that can encourage reconsiderations and re-orientations of processes and products, new projects on places, buildings, objects and materials, able to positively affect the governance of the global change that our planet and humanity need, able to give a ‘new life’ to the built and/or transformed environment, at any scale.
Research Interests: Biomaterials, Sustainable Development, Recycling, Urban Regeneration, Ecology, and 15 moreBuilt Environment, Adaptive Reuse, Solid Waste Management, Addiction and Recovery, Urban Design, Conservation and Restoration, Recovery, Upcycling, Zero Waste, Spatial Design, Reconversion Industrial, VERTICAL GREENERY, Urban Mining, Urban Greenery and Forestry, and New Bauhaus
Within the cultural debate that considers the environmental issue as a priority and with reference to the studies and researches that over the last years have supported compound materials containing rammed earth, the Authors, aware of the... more
Within the cultural debate that considers the environmental issue as a priority and with reference to the studies and researches that over the last years have supported compound materials containing rammed earth, the Authors, aware of the need of giving to the relationship of Project and Matter a key role, supported by the characteristics of Architectural Technology, show the results of an experimentation that aims to improve the performance of rammed earth with the contribution of nanotechnologies, developing a ‘new material’ with a reduced embodied energy and a reduced amount of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
This paper highlights how the use of materials and building components often implicates the growth of embodied energy necessary to their construction, which is not always adequately compensated by a decrease of operational energy because... more
This paper highlights how the use of materials and building components often implicates the growth of embodied energy necessary to their construction, which is not always adequately compensated by a decrease of operational energy because incorporated energy can be almost half of the total energy used in a building’s life cycle and, sometimes, it even exceeds operational energy. The paper highlights how searching only for “operational” energy efficiency does not sufficiently guarantee environmental sustainability of the intervention. The intervention is heavily influenced by embodied energy whose knowledge must drive, since the beginning, the decision-making process towards more sustainable design choices.
Research Interests:
This paper illustrates the experimentation activities on rammed earth and nanotechnologies. The experimental research was carried out with the aim of improving the performance of rammed earth bricks with clay nanotubes, creating a ‘new... more
This paper illustrates the experimentation activities on rammed earth and nanotechnologies. The experimental research was carried out with the aim of improving the performance of rammed earth bricks with clay nanotubes, creating a ‘new material’ with reduced embodied energy and low CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Specifically, the analysed performances are related to the compressive strength that expand their area of use as a building material.
Research Interests:
The contribution frames the essays, studies, research and projects published in issue 9 of AGATHÓN on ‘The SecondLife of the Built Environment’, an interesting topic for universities, businesses and industry. Climate changes, excessive... more
The contribution frames the essays, studies, research and projects published in issue 9 of AGATHÓN on ‘The SecondLife of the Built Environment’, an interesting topic for universities, businesses and industry. Climate changes, excessive use of soil, renewable resources, ever-increasing production of waste, the current pandemic emergency and the global socio-economic crisis have in fact entered our daily life. Even if these are tragic issues, they can be, somehow, seized as an opportunity to rethink the way we live and our world. In this ‘revolutionary’ (Floridi, 2020) and ‘polycrisis’ (Losasso, 2020) context, specifically referring to the building industry, the Academy, the Research and Industry worlds are called to give answers – based on sustainability and the principles of the Green Deal but also and mostly of the new Bauhaus – that can encourage reconsiderations and re-orientations of processes and products, new projects on places, buildings, objects and materials, able to positively affect the governance of the global change that our planet and humanity need, able to give a ‘new life’ to the built and/or transformed environment, at any scale.
Research Interests: Biomaterials, Sustainable Development, Recycling, Urban Regeneration, Ecology, and 15 moreBuilt Environment, Adaptive Reuse, Solid Waste Management, Addiction and Recovery, Science for Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, Urban Design, Recovery, Upcycling, Zero Waste, Spatial Design, Reconversion Industrial, VERTICAL GREENERY, Urban Mining, Urban Greenery and Forestry, and New Bauhaus
Investigating the Future is an established practice for the academy and the world of crafts and industry. From the Chicago Columbian Exhibition of 1893 to the two Worlds Fairs of New York City (1939 and 1965) and so on, the future has... more
Investigating the Future is an established practice for the academy and the world of crafts and industry. From the Chicago Columbian Exhibition of 1893 to the two Worlds Fairs of New York City (1939 and 1965) and so on, the future has been foreseen as filled with technology and amazing architecture but not every vision of the future has described promising scenarios. The four visions of the future proposed by Norman Henchey (1978) conceptualized in classes – ‘possible’ (any future), ‘plausible’ (future that makes sense), ‘probable’ (highly likely to happen), ‘preferable’ (the best that could happen) – have been brilliantly described in the ‘Futures Cone’ reinterpreted by Joseph Voros (2003). As we move away from the present, the ‘possible’ tends to ‘preferable’ due to the lack of elements and data on which to base the programming and the planning: in fact, the certainty on the type of technologies and production methods that will be available, on the social structure and user uses, and so on decreases. By 2030, the world will already be different: Thomas L. Friedman (2016) highlights that the three main forces of our Planet – Moore’s Law (technology), the Market (globalization) and Mother Nature (climate change and biodiversity loss) – are all pressing at the same time, with inevitable consequences for the territory, cities, architecture, products and services that will be designed, developed and used in the future. The 17 2030 Sustainable Development Goals presented by the United Nations provide an answer for this time horizon, tracing the path towards a model to achieve a better and more sustainable future for everyone. But will these Goals be able to accelerate sustainable innovation? Paraphrasing Luciano Floridi, philosopher of Information and Technology at the University of Oxford, we ask ourselves if ‘green’ (of natural and artificial environments) and ‘blue’ (of science, technology and therefore the digital world) will succeed to guide a vision of the future capable of replacing ‘things’ (objects) with ‘relationships’, ‘individual planning’ with ‘common planning’, the ‘experience economy’ (and not consumption) with a ‘policy of care and relationships’ (and not production). A vision of the sustainable future of living, by looking at the two time horizons of 2030 and 2050, will be played on an increasingly synergistic work aimed at providing answers to many questions.
Research Interests: Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Future Studies, Design, Architecture, and 11 moreSustainable Development, Urban Planning, Innovation In Built Environment, Urban Studies, The Internet of Things, Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Architecture, ICT innovation, Futures Studies and Foresight, Green Building, and Urban Design
In the context of environmental emergency of which the construction sector is one of the main causes – since it consumes 40% of the (embodied and operational) energy and produces about a third of the total waste – and due to the ambitious... more
In the context of environmental emergency of which the construction sector is one of the main causes – since it consumes 40% of the (embodied and operational) energy and produces about a third of the total waste – and due to the ambitious objectives set by the international community and by many countries to reduce the environmental impact of buildings during their whole life cycle, this paper wants to make a contribution to the understanding of the state of the art on cycle-based research activities, sustainable experiments and good practices that the building industry and the academy have implemented in recent years. In particular, it refers to cycle-based theoretical and experimental actions involving process and product innovations at different scales (‘macro’, ‘meso’ and ‘micro’) of the built environment. They are capable of overcoming the traditional linear approach to use an approach aiming, on the one hand, to extend the service life cycle, and on the other, to evaluate new bio-based materials, easily renewable and with a low embodied energy. In the end, the paper highlights the problems that currently hinder its dissemination and identifies possible research actions that can favour, with the contribution of Architectural Technology, the transition to this new paradigm.
Research Interests:
The beginning of the third millennium has marked a period of unprecedented change for cities, architecture and product/visual design. Over the last two decades, economic, social and environmental causes have stimulated and conditioned... more
The beginning of the third millennium has marked a period of unprecedented change for cities, architecture and product/visual design. Over the last two decades, economic, social and environmental causes have stimulated and conditioned research and production, directing them towards substantial paradigm changes, proposing new challenges to create more smart, more resilient, more responsive and adaptive, more efficient and more sustainable urban systems, buildings and objects – from nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) to Positive Energy Architecture (PEA) – designed and built faster, with lower costs and with a positive effect on the environment, society, health and productivity: more innovative, in a nutshell. It is a common knowledge that innovation is, now more than ever, the tool needed to recover from the global economic crisis, to aim for economic prosperity and quality of life improvement, to increase productivity, to foster competitiveness, to support the challenge of globalization and environmental sustainability, both at an ‘incremental’ level (improvement of an already existing production process) and ‘radical’ (to create a new unmatched method or production system).
In this regard, the book ‘Pro-Innovation: Process Production Product’ collects essays and critical thoughts, researches and experimentations on the subject of Innovation in the building and design industry, which can provide some starting points for debate for the international scientific Community or show successful examples of innovation, sustainability and social inclusion. The papers are grouped into two sections (Architecture and Design) according to the scientific field they are referred to, and provide a summary – obviously not exhaustive – of the Innovation that is characterizing the beginning of this century, presenting many proposals and new points of view of the process, of its management and of the building production that indicate new paths to thread and new professionals.
In this regard, the book ‘Pro-Innovation: Process Production Product’ collects essays and critical thoughts, researches and experimentations on the subject of Innovation in the building and design industry, which can provide some starting points for debate for the international scientific Community or show successful examples of innovation, sustainability and social inclusion. The papers are grouped into two sections (Architecture and Design) according to the scientific field they are referred to, and provide a summary – obviously not exhaustive – of the Innovation that is characterizing the beginning of this century, presenting many proposals and new points of view of the process, of its management and of the building production that indicate new paths to thread and new professionals.
Research Interests:
Nowadays, the protection in situ, the enhancement and the fruition of archaeological sites are issues that are even more relevant, if we take into account the effects caused, in recent decades, by climate change both on the conservation... more
Nowadays, the protection in situ, the enhancement and the fruition of archaeological sites are issues that are even more relevant, if we take into account the effects caused, in recent decades, by climate change both on the conservation of the most fragile artefacts and on the well-being of visitors. New questions related to the ‘recover of identity’ are raised by the relationships that the protection interventions establish with the environmental context (external) and with the ancient ruins (internal), imposing an interpretation of the project as a union of landscape, morphological, climatic, technical, use and management aspects, or by requiring a holistic and integrated approach, from a disciplinary point of view, and systemic, from a technical point of view. Without wishing to provide a set of predefined solutions, the contribution presents some innovative and reliable protection systems with a paradigmatic and exemplary character for architectural and construction quality, flexibility and adaptability of the space, energy and environmental performance, so that they can be a stimulus for areas of research and experimentation in specific archaeological sites.
Research Interests:
Inability to acquire new memories, difficulty to remember recent events and to recognize objects, places and people, visual-spatial disorientation, these are some of the disorders with which who is affected by neurological diseases must... more
Inability to acquire new memories, difficulty to remember recent events and to recognize objects, places and people, visual-spatial disorientation, these are some of the disorders with which who is affected by neurological diseases must learn to live with. In a continuously evolving society, where the decreasing birth rate and the drops in mortality are consistent, the job of Architecture is precisely to interpret the requirements and needs of people who have lost the canonical relationship with the world and give them the possibility to recover it or maintain it through communication channels that use their remaining ability to understand. The indoors and outdoors acquire a “prosthesis function”, containing and expressing the knowledge necessary to its right enjoyment, reducing the frustration sense through the safety and well-being feeling that the patient must perceive by living in it. This essay is a contribution to the dissemination of knowledge and useful information to those who work in the field of organization and design of health services, reporting “non-pharmacological”, low-cost and sustainable therapeutic solutions promoted by international and national technological research in the field of Design technology and ICT and which have proven to be able to significantly help both patients and caregivers.
Research Interests:
This essay offers a moment of critical reflection on architectural detail by investigating its expressive and communicative potential when it shows the first idea of the designer or when it contributes to the structuring and... more
This essay offers a moment of critical reflection on architectural detail by investigating its expressive and communicative potential when it shows the first idea of the designer or when it contributes to the structuring and characterization of the work, as an element or component. Through the reference literature, the widespread use of digital technologies and the most recent research on the subject, we will deepen the roles and critical issues of the detail as an interface for understanding the whole building system and for the characterization of architecture in the near future.
Research Interests:
Within the scientific debate about the conservation, in general, of Cultural Heritage and, in particular, of Archaeological Heritage which are characterized by a dual tangible and intangible nature; and in consistence with Technological... more
Within the scientific debate about the conservation, in general, of Cultural Heritage and, in particular, of Archaeological Heritage which are characterized by a dual tangible and intangible nature; and in consistence with Technological Culture for its features concerning the right development and enjoyment of the Heritage, the present essay offers a critical interpretation of the literature about a protection system with an architectural shelter for archaeological sites. On the basis of the critical elements detected in the activities that took place over the past sixty years, this essay underlines the absolute impossibility to postpone the definition of the guidelines which need to be always based on a case-by-case principle in order to bring workers towards aware conservation, enhancement and enjoyment of the Archaeological Heritage. It is impossible to postpone the creation of operational models which allow us to set up a contemporary high-performance, reliable, sustainable but also reversible protection system (with morphological, typological, technical and constructive solutions suitable for the potential significance of the Heritage itself) in order to cope with significant and variable meanings that would or could be given by the future generations.
Research Interests:
The paper, contribution to the international debate on the environmental matter, deals with a tool that can guide professionals and the users in choosing low environmental impact building materials with similar functional requirements,... more
The paper, contribution to the international debate on the environmental matter, deals with a tool that can guide professionals and the users in choosing low environmental impact building materials with similar functional requirements, the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) or Type III Environmental Label, by highlighting strengths and limitations. The paper, besides describing the characteristics and contents of the EPDs and Product Category Rules (PCR), lists the main European EPD Programmes, analyzing two EPDs models in order to verify the comparability of the listed LCA data.
Research Interests: Sustainable Production and Consumption, Construction Materials, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Building Design, Sustainable Architecture, and 5 moreSustainable Design, Tools for innovation management assesment, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA ), Environmental Product Declarations, and European EPD Programmes
Bioeconomy, circular economy, land use reduction, sustainable use of natural resources, reduction of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere and recycling are the keywords which the building world must face in the near future, as the... more
Bioeconomy, circular economy, land use reduction, sustainable use of natural resources, reduction of CO2 emissions in the atmosphere and recycling are the keywords which the building world must face in the near future, as the environmental emergency can no longer be postponed. In order to disseminate in the scientific community the different possibilities of timber as a sustainable building material throughout its whole life cycle and to provide the professionals with suitable decision-making tools for a conscious design, within the cultural and scientific scenario of the recent years, the paper serves as a moment of reflection highlighting how a closer integration between different sectors (forestry, building, energy, industrial and waste management) can find, in the use of timber, an opportunity to significantly reduce the overall impact of a built environment life cycle.
Research Interests: Engineering, Forestry, Environmental Sustainability, High-rise building (Architecture), Biobased Economy, and 8 moreSustainable Skyrise Vertical Greenery Development, Timber Architecture, Circular Economy, Timber use in construction, Cross-Laminated Timber, Life Cycle Assessment ( LCA ), Environmental Product Declaration, and Natural glues
Investigating the Future is an established practice for the academy and the world of crafts and industry. From the Chicago Columbian Exhibition of 1893 to the two Worlds Fairs of New York City (1939 and 1965) and so on, the future has... more
Investigating the Future is an established practice for the academy and the world of crafts and industry. From the Chicago Columbian Exhibition of 1893 to the two Worlds Fairs of New York City (1939 and 1965) and so on, the future has been foreseen as filled with technology and amazing architecture but not every vision of the future has described promising scenarios. The four visions of the future proposed by Norman Henchey (1978) conceptualized in classes – ‘possible’ (any future), ‘plausible’ (future that makes sense), ‘probable’ (highly likely to happen), ‘preferable’ (the best that could happen) – have been brilliantly described in the ‘Futures Cone’ reinterpreted by Joseph Voros (2003). As we move away from the present, the ‘possible’ tends to ‘preferable’ due to the lack of elements and data on which to base the programming and the planning: in fact, the certainty on the type of technologies and production methods that will be available, on the social structure and user uses, and so on decreases. By 2030, the world will already be different: Thomas L. Friedman (2016) highlights that the three main forces of our Planet – Moore’s Law (technology), the Market (globalization) and Mother Nature (climate change and biodiversity loss) – are all pressing at the same time, with inevitable consequences for the territory, cities, architecture, products and services that will be designed, developed and used in the future. The 17 2030 Sustainable Development Goals presented by the United Nations provide an answer for this time horizon, tracing the path towards a model to achieve a better and more sustainable future for everyone. But will these Goals be able to accelerate sustainable innovation? Paraphrasing Luciano Floridi, philosopher of Information and Technology at the University of Oxford, we ask ourselves if ‘green’ (of natural and artificial environments) and ‘blue’ (of science, technology and therefore the digital world) will succeed to guide a vision of the future capable of replacing ‘things’ (objects) with ‘relationships’, ‘individual planning’ with ‘common planning’, the ‘experience economy’ (and not consumption) with a ‘policy of care and relationships’ (and not production). A vision of the sustainable future of living, by looking at the two time horizons of 2030 and 2050, will be played on an increasingly synergistic work aimed at providing answers to many questions.
Research Interests: Civil Engineering, Future Studies, Technology, Design, Architecture, and 10 moreLandscape Architecture, Sustainable Development, Urban Studies, Built Environment, ICT for Development, Environmental Sustainability, Futures and Options, Futures Studies and Foresight, Urban Design, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Nowadays, the protection in situ, the enhancement and the fruition of archaeological sites are issues that are even more relevant, if we take into account the effects caused, in recent decades, by climate change both on the conservation... more
Nowadays, the protection in situ, the enhancement and the fruition of archaeological sites are issues that are even more relevant, if we take into account the effects caused, in recent decades, by climate change both on the conservation of the most fragile artefacts and on the well-being of visitors. New questions related to the 'recover of identity' are raised by the relationships that the protection interventions establish with the environmental context (external) and with the ancient ruins (internal), imposing an interpretation of the project as a union of landscape, morphological, climatic, technical, use and management aspects, or by requiring a holistic and integrated approach, from a disciplinary point of view, and systemic, from a technical point of view. Without wishing to provide a set of predefined solutions, the contribution presents some innovative and reliable protection systems with a paradig-matic and exemplary character for architectural and construction quality, flexibility and adaptability of the space, energy and environmental performance, so that they can be a stimulus for areas of research and experimentation in specific archaeological sites.
Research Interests:
The book presents reflections on the centrality of Design in the discipline of Technology of Architecture and on the need to adapt the design method to the innovation of thought implemented by the research world. The theme of the... more
The book presents reflections on the centrality of Design in the discipline of Technology of Architecture and on the need to adapt the design method to the innovation of thought implemented by the research world. The theme of the Innovation in the Method of Technological Design is an interesting challenge that in this volume has been addressed considering the complexity of the levels of thematic depth, opening up to critical reflections, proposals for tools and illustration of case studies that show the breadth, relevance and multidimensionality of this issue. The era of digital and information technology have significantly influenced the way of doing and thinking in architecture and this evolution of design thinking takes on different connotations in training or professional practice. In the volume, it is transversally observable as the degree of innovation is to be found in the contents (ideas, techniques and procedures), as well as in the tools. The need to adapt the design method to the innovation of thought, carried out and encouraged by the world of research, obliges us to rethink the existing contents and training paths that must generate it and to privilege the didactic experiences in which the traditional procedure (frontal teaching, individual study, profit examination) is passed. Since the labour market rewards those who demonstrate their ability to control the design process with creativity and predictability, concreteness and feasibility, sensitivity and respect for the transforming environment, the book proposes the centrality of the technological project, based on a technical culture, since it is able to guarantee the correct use of resources and an appropriate management of the transformation process. New paradigms of regenerative architecture, ‘cradle to cradle’ approach, methodological approach to the design of shelters in archaeological sites, building with water, materials for digital production in architecture are interesting design experiments wisely described: the development of such a debate can also lead to useful contributions to the development of technological thinking.