In the last decades, it’s becoming more and more clear everyday that the rational use and production of Energy will be a crucial issue for the development of our civilization. Big efforts are being done to find new exploitable energy resources and to improve the performance and efficiency of the existing conversion technologies. To make these efforts useful, it’s easy to understand that a parallel line of action involves decreasing of energy demand. In dealing with this problem, the target of the project is to develop architectural concepts and design prototypes that may lead to scalable, low-energy, cost effective buildings for European and Mediterranean climates. Starting from a case-study building localized near Catania, the students were asked to propose innovative solutions both for the facades and the roof, including active and passive components and exploiting all the possible advantages given by modularity and by prefabrication. A solution that could work with free and clean sources and with sustainable materials, never neglecting the requests of the final users and the aesthetic of the building. Both teams, after a first phase of analysis of the problem, the stakeholders and the state of art of the sector, have proposed a solution that involves different innovative technologies and have justified the choices by performing economic and energy simulations. To do these, commercial software and appropriate models written by the students have been used and merged. ENEL, the main stakeholder of the project, has expressed satisfaction about the methodology which was adopted in approaching this complex and multidisciplinary problem, enlightening also the innovative skills of both teams. The proposed solutions can give an interesting contribution for increasing the energy efficiency of buildings, and this could represent an interesting issue, particularly for Public Administrations that have to deal with a lot of structures for offices, schools, hospitals and other. In a period of economic crisis, this renewal could also be a key point for stimulating, in a sustainable way, the production and the markets.
Principal Academic Tutors
Marco Perino
Energetics, Politecnico di Torino
Academic Tutors
Niccolò Aste
Building and Environment Sciences and Technology, Politecnico di Milano
Alessandro Rogora
Building and Environment Sciences and Technology, Politecnico di Milano
Valentina Serra
Energetics, Politecnico di Torino
External institution
ENEL
External Tutor
Francesco Aleo
ENEL Produzione S.p.A.
Gaudenzio Mariotti
ENEL GEM, Area Tecnica Ricerca
Team members
TEAM A
Alessandro Scandiffio [Project Communication Coordinator & Team controller], Building Engineering
Lorenza Bianco, Architecture
Filippo Colzi, Energy Engineering
TEAM B
Achille Iannazzone [Team controller], Automotive Engineering
Leandro Candido, Civil Engineering
Stefano Petrucci, Energy Engineering
Erica Pilotto, Architecture for restoration and preservation of architectural and environmental heritage
Lilian Tonet Rensi, Chemical Engineering
Antonio Russo, Mechanical Engineering