Design and Manufacturing of Adaptive Facades in a Life Cycle Approach: A Survey on Challenges and Solutions in the Italian Building Industry

Manuela Crespi

doi:10.3390/architecture1020007

Abstract

The market of Adaptive Building Skins has been growing at a slow but incremental speed, as these technologies ensure better indoor climatic comfort and more efficient energy management than traditional solutions. Nonetheless, if we acknowledge the building as a system of physical qualities oriented to overall environmental performance, the resource optimization has to be extended to considering a wider range of environmental impacts along the entire building life cycle. For this purpose, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method is recognized by stakeholders as the most world-renowned standardized tool for weighting environmental impacts. The aim of this study is to scrutinize the state of the art of LCA among stakeholders enrolled in the design and manufacturing of building and adaptive facades in the Italian market. Data have been collected throughout interviews and an online survey focusing on investigating the knowledge and experience level of participants. Results not only draw the attention to develop new market models by implementing sustainable building protocols concerning adaptive technologies, but also provided a positive assessment on the usability degree of a parametric design mapping based on a systemic and life-cycle-oriented approach to achieve environmental scopes and introduce competitive factors and boost innovation in the Italian building industry.

Highlights

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that one of the available pathways to limit global warming to 1.5 ◦ C above pre-industrial levels is that global carbon emissions need to fall to 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and continue a steep decline to zero net emissions by 2050 [1]
In which it is expected that the technological development of adaptive façade solutions acquires a significant market share in the years, it is of the utmost significance to investigate the real effectiveness in maintaining simultaneously indoor environmental comfort and building energy efficiency [8]
Architecture 2021, 1 the building as a system of physical qualities oriented to environmental performances, the resource optimization has to be extended to considering a wider range of environmental impacts along the entire building life cycle

Summary

Introduction

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that one of the available pathways to limit global warming to 1.5 ◦ C above pre-industrial levels is that global carbon emissions need to fall to 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and continue a steep decline to zero net emissions by 2050 [1]. The 2018/844 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) on the energy performance of buildings recommends the adoption of “smart” indicators to measure the building’s capacity to use intelligent devices to adapt the operations to the occupants’ needs and to improve the energy efficiency and the overall performance [3]. These goals and strategies suggest the spreading use of adaptive building skins technologies, the terms “Smart” and “Intelligent” have been investigated by many authors with reference to adaptive envelopes [4,5,6,7].

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Conclusion