1,720,970 research outputs found
Nuovi musei - Nuovi involucri
No full textOver the last decades a real revolution happened in the type, perception and use of art work: objects to be shown, subjects to be celebrated or more simply the demands of artists don't need large and introvert spaces; the events can happen outside the big cities and the small cities have an important role in the structure of the cultural world. The improvement of the historical, financial and cultural origins increased very much the demand of various and more or less large spaces, where to give the right shelter to all signs of human activity and therefore not only to those canonically classified as artistical.
The various expositive offer and demand, doesn't necessarily involve monumental buildings made by rich materials. No more (or better not only) blind and heavy walls, stones and precious metals covering, but also the use of light and ethereal walls that were considered poor materials (like wood, adobe, sheet metal, mats, paper and bamboo).
New contents, and most recently, subjects linked to the respect for the environment, caused the concept of volumes, sometimes on a small scale, that find, the confirmation of their own language and the technical constructive solutions in local references, and in the observance of energy saving.
In this general description, the envelope project my be one of the most interesting and innovating aspects that come out during the last years, with results that appear in many cases every thing but mere solutions. From this point of view Hilton Judin and Nina Cohen's designs for Mandela Museum in Mvezo (South Africa), the Weald and Downland Museum by Edward H. Cullinan in West Sussex, and the most recent Shigeru Ban's Nomadic Museum in New York are all very significant examples.
This research, through the study of these works, shows how it is possible to recognise, in places very far among themselves both physically and culturally, at the same time common objectives and variety of materials and design solutions. These very important both technical and formal plans, allow to assign to these sphere selections a right qualitative and ethical degree, that it well symbolises a new way to see and to do the culture and the architecture
Light decorations
No full textAround the end of XIX century and the first decades of the XX century Cagliari, the largest city in Sardinia, and the small cities around, were minor contexts with insufficient economical resources.
The new classes living in the historical centres showed the attained social standing building or rebuilding own houses. These were built in the gothic sites with traditional technologies, and were just adorned with cheap systems, with the use of three elements: terracotta ornaments, wrought iron or cast iron works and bargeboards. The first ones adorned windows and external boundary façades; the second ones were most of all used as gratings and balcony railings; the third ones finished the roofing with handcrafts that performed the double part of decoration and protection from rain. The use of these cheap architectural components allowed lower (on the economical side) social groups, to be the witness of the passage from the Neo-classical language to the Modern one. The combinations of terracotta modular products, even in the mass production repeativity, allowed to obtain a wide range of combinations which made every concerned façade an individual and particular one, and, at the same time, contributed to a kind of internationalisation of the signs.
Despite the serious damages of the Second World War suffered by the building heritage, the façades adorned with this system were still abundant some decades ago.
Nowadays many of these traces are also ruining because of the high price of reconstruction. Starting from the surveys worked out about fifteen years ago, the research verifies and compares the actual situation with the one existing until the early 90’s. At the same time it highlights the little attention given to these details supplying a useful basis for the building conservation and rehabilitation. The purpose is to keep high the interest on these techniques which, though by means of little handcrafts, is still today characteristic of large parts of the historical centres in Southern Sardinia
Building heritage towards the future, through the energy efficiency
No full textIn period of globalization, where real-time sharing of what happens in the world, opens each scenario to broader visions, even the concept of heritage acquires a significance far beyond. The current events in the Middle East are bringing in the foreground the blind fury toward priceless treasures of history, and they offer us a reason to reflect on the role and the new meanings attributed to historical heritage. The preservation of our heritage becomes a moral duty to society in that it finds the sense of humanity. Recovering a historic building, currently, means to follow a long and complex way that from the reuse of its function, necessarily involves the redevelopment of its envelope, both in terms of construction, energy efficiency, in order to adapt it to the current paradigms of sustainable. The trial travels on two parallel tracks: preservation and requalification. All design decisions must be taken to reduce energy consumption, CO2 emissions and maintenance costs. Our research group has long been involved in studies on recovering of buildings located in the historic centre of Cagliari
Smart façades: Declination with the electrochromic glass
Full text linkEnergy saving and environmental protection don’t represent only a technical problem but also, and maybe most of all, an ethical problem. From this point of view, the Mediterranean area, characterized by a considerable Sunshine for at least 8 months a year, is configured as particularly suitable for the use of all building systems that can reach the objectives provided by the latest global climate conferences. The architectural heritage of the Mediterranean area is various both in typological terms and in relation to building materials used. If you want to find materials and components common to the area certainly the windows, and exacting the glazing linked to them, represent a very significant element that can considerably contribute to energy savings. Our group is concerned, since 2009, to test the behaviour, in the energy field, of electrochromic glass. The phases of the studies, presented at many conferences, have already demonstrated efficiency in terms of savings that can be achieved by envelopes integrated with the EC. The testing, conducted on full scale models, was divided into three steps temporally sequential. We built two identical test rooms each other for exposure, size (4x4x2.70 m) and of the envelope composition. Traditional low-emission panels were put in place in the first room, the EC glass were placed in the second one. Measuring tools were positioned in the test rooms, to detect the most important internal thermo physical parameters. This study is divided in three steps, according to a façade configuration with glass surfaces gradually increasing. The research compares internal conditions, detected during the three phases, and it clarifies the relationships between façade configuration and both inside and outside circumstances
Electrochromic glass: behaviour and energy saving
No full textThe research group, from several years, dealing with Electrochromic Glass and their performance in the energy field. As already introduced in the presentation of the GPD 2011, the research, started with simulations using specific software, is at present, to being tested on real physical models. Two test rooms have been made perfectly identical as regards orientation, dimensions, materials, elements and construction system: in the first room EC glass were laid, in the second one Low-E glazing of equal size. In this phase, which began in January and will end in December 2012, at fixed times, the EC glazing go from OFF to ON condition. In both test rooms survey tools detect, at predetermined time, the most important indoor thermo physical parameters such as: temperature, air humidity and solar radiation. The data are recorded, processed and displayed in graphs showing the internal conditions related to outside parameters.
The objective of this step is to compare, in both rooms, the internal conditions of temperature and solar radiation to reach calculate consumption and energy costs required to achieve same indoor condition.
In the second phase, will study the thermal energy performance as a function of envelope variants. Most of all it‘ll be studied that one relating to the different relationship between glass and opaque surface
Advanced technology, quality and natural materials efficiency in the Mediterranean Climate
No full textIn the current building experience of the very technologically advanced part of the
planet, concept of Sustainability, has brought to more suitable solutions based on LCA managing
models, from material and component dimension to the accomplished built object. Nowadays,
buildings and dwellings have become dynamic and elaborate organisms. We are leaving behind
ourselves the Modern idea as Architecture as an energetic machine to move towards new
paradigms, new models based on local and energetic efficiency, innovation, costs attention and
resources utilization that might improve people life quality, even in the social dwelling size. To
achieve our purpose, we have taken environmental standards as project assumption in order to
get closer in the interactions between building as a complex system and as ecosystem. We can
apply the same sustainability assumptions in common practice and fast building-up procedures,
combining vary types of durability, reversibility, reliability even with self-construction building
procedure. As result of this way of thinking, the trial project, of a 35 sqm building module, starts.
Moreover, in this study, takes place the electrochromic (EC) glass experimentation, shifted from
continental to the mild Mediterranean climate. Studies started up in 2008 by a university and
professional research team and have been focus on compatibility condition of EC selective glass
with local materials production, answering to precise economical and environmental
requirements in a more cost/benefit awaked vision for social dwelling target. Local materials
supply, production quality, knowledge of the habitat and of the local building techniques as
brought to privilege poor materials as straw, wood, cork and wool. With these basis, the module
can fulfill different demands and functions, depending on the proper case, from the complex
building type can be suitable as social dwelling module as well. The aim of this abstract is to
show the development of the research project lead by Cagliari University DICAAR, merging the
results of the use of EC glass in mild climate, with high quality performance solutions for builder
company and local producers in order to test these solutions in vary of fields
Electrochromic glazing in Contemporary Architecture: examples of use and opportunities for the future
No full textArchitecture and Construction are always reluctant to use innovative materials, althou gh characterized by promising performance levels, but with initial costs significantly higher than conventional
materials. This inertia is partly contrasted by the requirement for sustainable design that leads to organize construction processes ever more appropriate, through a careful analysis and selection of building materials and their performance related to system functions that the building must fulfill.
Currently the Architecture Department of Cagliari University is carring out a research that has as
principal objective the study on the possibility of ever more efficient use of materials, traditional -
used in innovative ways too - but also innovative and composites.
One of the first materials taken into account is the electrochromic glass, a special type of chromogenic
glass, a variable transparency glazing. EC windows are able to vary their characteristics of
transparency to solar radiation following application of a very small electric field. Are therefore
particularly suited to energy savings in summer for air conditioning of buildings, especially buildings
with large windows in Mediterranean climate. However, Ec materials are little known and little used.
This article therefore seeks to retrace the history of these materials, analyzing their characteristics,
their use in some case studies and methods of installation. Analyzed the state of the art, we will
explain briefly the ongoing research at the Cagliari University, which aims to test the actual
performance of electrochromic glazing, using them in a test room in a office building, and especially
with the comparison of data collected in a adjacent test room which has the same characteristics and
equipped with traditional glazing. A further aim of the next phase of experimentation is to evaluate the
durability of the materials and the possibility of glazing regulation, through the current possibilities
provided by home and building automation. In hot areas, such as in Mediterranean regions, where the
energy requirements of buildings is binding for most of the summer conditioning due to intense solar
inputs, electrochromic glazing represent, in the near future, a reasonable response in terms of Energy
savings. Currently they are among the more interesting components for achieving transparency,
sustainability and linguistic evolution of architectural envelope
Architettura e sostenibilità nel Mediterraneo
No full textProgetto, costruzione e gestione dell'edificio, vitali alla architettura altamente sostenibile, si codificano da decenni anche con riguardo agli effetti sull'economia edilizia, avendo
contribuito il settore ad inquinamento ed esaurimento di
risorse non rinnovabili. Le ulteriori relazioni sperimentali tra materia e contorno vagliano su qualità ed innovazione prestazionale di materiali e costruito.
Fra molteplici materiali performanti, il versatile vetro circoscrive, in particolare, l'indagine del Dipartimento di Architettura di Cagliari. Per le prestazioni fornite ai fini
energetici di risparmio ed efficienza, i ricercatori proseguono l'indagine in ambito climatico locale, con l'edificazione di test room, a seguito dei promettenti esiti delle simulazioni sui
vetri elettrocromici. Di rilevante applicazione per effetti energetici e di comfort, gli elettrocromici consentono di ridurre l'apporto necessario alla climatizzazione estiva nelle
zone calde del Mediterraneo e, per traslucenza variabile,
forniscono codici lessicali di un'architettura finita e coerente
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