High-performance materials and technological solutions to improve the thermal performance of historic buildings

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to outline the state-of-the-art in the field of historic buildings’ energy retrofit through high-performance materials or innovative solutions. The research question is to understand if the latter can be positively applied to historic building in terms of compatibility and can contribute to create tailor-made solutions, avoiding or mitigating critical issues from the preservation point of view. This required the evaluation of many publications including papers, handbooks, booklets, and guidance as well as research reports. The literature review was then summarized in two research fields for each building element: retrofit solutions and high-performance materials and solutions applied to historic buildings. The technical properties of these highly efficient materials and their possible uses in heritage buildings are shown through the comparison and the data analysis of some case studies. Starting from a general reasoning on retrofit solutions and the interactions between the various building components within a whole building energy retrofit project, the paper assesses how high-performance materials are or are not widespread, which kind of data is available and what is still missing.