pietromaria.davoli

La letteratura e il sapere condiviso spesso ci permettono di definire qualitativamente il comportamento ambientale degli spazi esterni e di transizione delle città storiche ma raramente si trovano studi nei quali esso sia stato quantificato attraverso monitoraggi sul campo. Una misurazione di questo profilo ambientale, tuttavia, diventa oggi quanto mai interessante e ineludibile perché, attraverso una conoscenza più precisa di questi set di dati, il gestore e l’utente diventano più consapevoli, anche nel loro modo di interagire con lo spazio.

Literature and common knowledge often allow us to know qualitatively the environmental behavior of outdoor and liminal spaces in historic cities, but rarely this has been quantified through field monitoring. A quantification of this environmental profile, however, becomes more interesting than ever nowadays because, through a more precise knowledge of these data, the user and its way of interacting with the space becomes more aware.

Gli edifici storici rappresentano una parte significativa del patrimonio costruito, in particolare per il loro valore culturale. Un modo efficacie per preservare questa importante testimonianza per il futuro è quello di adeguarla costantemente alle esigenze evolutive della società. Le innumerevoli possibilità di intervento danno luogo a interessanti sperimentazioni per l’upgrade funzionale e prestazionale degli edifici, ma aumentano, conseguentemente, la possibilità di insorgenza di rischi per la conservazione dei fabbricati. I rischi connessi a interventi poco consapevoli o mal progettati si aggiungo, infatti, a quelli causati dal degrado derivante dal fisiologico deterioramento delle strutture e degli apparati decorativi. Dopo una disamina dei principali fattori di rischio di danneggiamento naturale dei fabbricati, utili anche per l’impostazione di progetti di restauro e retrofit energetico, l’articolo documenta brevemente la ricerca europea HeLLo che si occupa di studiare i principali rischi connessi all’intervento di innalzamento prestazionale e alle attività di monitoraggio di edifici antichi.

Historic buildings represent a significant part of the built heritage, particularly for their cultural value. One important way of preserving built heritage for the future is to guarantee the prolonging and continuous use of such buildings, constantly adapted to the evolutionary needs of society (ad example people accessibility and/or comfort levels or improved energy performance levels). Rethinking an historic building to accommodate new uses enhances preserving it in the memory of all, avoiding its transformation into a museum.
As known, specific conservation obligations are due when a building is listed (subjected to a protection measures). This heritage cannot be destroyed, deteriorated, damaged or used for purposes that are not compatible with their historical or artistic nature, in other words to prejudice its conservation (Italian legislative decree 42/2004, article 20, paragraph 1).
In one hand, the countless possibilities of intervention give rise to interesting experiments for the functional and performance upgrading of buildings. On the other, such interventions increase the likelihood of risks arising for the conservation of buildings: inherent risks due to the degradation produced by the physiological deterioration of the structures and decorative apparatuses, added of those related to inadequate or poorly designed interventions.
Understanding all the potential risks related to any intervention (starting from those which concern the natural degradation of the building) is therefore of utmost importance.
The importance of determining the condition of the building as the first step to be taken to plan adequate and effective conservation measures for cultural heritage has been remarked in several European projects as well as in the “Linee guida di indirizzo per il miglioramento dell'efficienza energetica nel patrimonio culturale” del MiBACT (2015). It has been suggested that this survey is supported by a document useful for the "assessment of the conditions and risks of the building under study" in which the type and state of conservation of all the technological elements of the building, its testimonial and architectural characteristics, dimensional and plant engineering aspects, movable elements or technical installations and equipment are indicated (Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, 2015 - Appendix).
In this context, the article proposes an analysis of the main risk factors of natural damage to buildings, which are also useful for setting up restoration and energy retrofit projects. After this, a documentation of a European research, the HeLLo project (Heritage energy Living Lab onsite), is followed. This research deals mainly with the study of the risks associated to the interventions of energy retrofit of such buildings related with the choice of the materials and the typology of installation, including also the risks associated to the monitoring activities conducted in historic buildings.

La ricerca ha l’obiettivo di sviluppare il modello per la progettazione di un software capace di gestire operazioni di efficientamento energetico su ampi patrimoni immobiliari, comprendendo analisi di fattibilità e processi di ottimizzazione, per supportare ed indirizzare l’iter decisionale. In particolare, nel caso di beni storici, l'efficientamento energetico è un'operazione estremamente complessa, costosa e difficile da governare, soprattutto se estesa a grandi portafogli: diventa allora cruciale valutare numerosi scenari alternativi di intervento per identificare le azioni che possano portare all’allocazione ottimale delle risorse, bilanciando al meglio risparmi e costi.

This research aims to develop a model for the design of software capable of managing energy efficiency operations in large property assets, including feasibility analysis and optimization processes, to support and direct the decision-making process. Whether applied to historic or traditional assets, energy efficiency is a complex and expensive operation, especially if broaden to large building stocks: it becomes crucial to evaluate alternative scenarios and identify the actions that can lead to the optimal resources allocation, considering the best balance between energy savings and total costs. The assessment at the early stage of economic convenience is strategic, including methods capable of controlling both the energetic behavior of the buildings and the monetary amounts involved. This study, hence, intends to elaborate a replicable model for the preventive economic evaluation in retrofit operations, especially for large property portfolios, where it is harder to define which combination of interventions leads to the optimal result. In particular, this model is processed starting from the project, "Unife sostenibile: screening energetico del patrimonio edilizio dell’ateneo di Ferrara e proposte preliminari per la fase di programmazione degli interventi di retrofit", developed by the Research Center “Achitettura> Energia (Unife).” The project chosen has analyzed a group of buildings in Ferrara, finding their thermo-hygrometric behavior, their annual consumption and other information about their installation systems, giving us a significant database necessary to implement the economic evaluation model to a detailed case-study. Thus, the goal of the research is to produce a calculation tool which can be easily used, and which can quickly identify the best retrofit scenario. Moreover, the model should be exportable and applicable in other contexts as well by varying the input data only.

La ricerca ha l’obiettivo di sviluppare un modello per la progettazione di un software capace di gestire interventi di efficientamento energetico su ampi patrimoni immobiliari, comprendendo analisi di fattibilità e processi di ottimizzazione, per supportare ed indirizzare l’iter decisionale. In particolare, nel caso di beni storici, l'efficientamento energetico è un'operazione estremamente complessa, costosa e difficile da governare, soprattutto se estesa a grandi portafogli: diventa allora cruciale valutare numerosi scenari alternativi di intervento per identificare le azioni che possano portare all’allocazione ottimale delle risorse, bilanciando al meglio risparmi e costi.

This research aims to develop a model for the design of a software capable of managing energy efficiency operations in large property assets, including feasibility analysis and optimization processes, to support and direct the decision-making process. Whether applied to historic or traditional assets, energy efficiency is a complex and expensive operation, especially if broaden to large building stocks: it becomes crucial to evaluate alternative scenarios and identify the actions that can lead to the optimal resources allocation, considering the best balance between energy savings and total costs. The assessment at the early stage of economic convenience is strategic, including methods capable of controlling both the energetic behavior of the buildings and the monetary amounts involved. This study, hence, intends to elaborate a replicable model for the preventive economic evaluation in retrofit operations, especially for large property portfolios, where it is harder to define which combination of interventions leads to the optimal result. In particular, this model is processed starting from the project, " Unife sostenibile: screening energetico del patrimonio edilizio dell’ateneo di Ferrara e proposte preliminari per la fase di programmazione degli interventi di retrofit", developed by the Research Center “Achitettura> Energia (Unife).” The project chosen has analyzed a group of buildings in Ferrara, finding their thermo-hygrometric behavior, their annual consumption and other information about their installation systems, giving us a significant database necessary to implement the economic evaluation model to a detailed case-study. Thus, the goal of the research is to produce a calculation tool which can be easily used, and which can quickly identify the best retrofit scenario. Moreover, the model should be exportable and applicable in other contexts as well by varying the input data only.

L’articolo presenta i primi risultati della ricerca “Unife sostenibile. Screening energetico del patrimonio edilizio dell’ateneo di Ferrara e proposte preliminari per la fase di programmazione degli interventi di retrofit”. Il lavoro prende avvio da una duplice esigenza dell’Amministrazione universitaria: possedere appropriati strumenti per una corretta analisi energetica del proprio patrimonio edilizio indirizzata alla pianificazione di opportune strategie di efficientamento, cosi come richiesto dal D.Lgs. n. 102/2014, e produrre gli Attestati di Prestazione Energetica, obbligatori per gli edifici Pubblici.
Il lavoro ha come obiettivo la messa a punto di uno strumento di analisi e programmazione degli interventi di riqualificazione energetica, semplificato e speditivo, utile alla gestione di grandi patrimoni immobiliari.

The paper presents the first part of the research “Energy screening of the building heritage of the University of Ferrara and preliminary proposals for the retrofit strategies planning phase”. The research moves from two needs of the university administration: having appropriate tools for an effective energy audit, to comply with the D.Lgs. n. 102/2014 that demands for the Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) of all public buildings in the near future; having a tool for planning an effective building refurbishment with the limited financial resources. The objective of the study is to set specific guidelines for the development of retrofit strategies on new, recent or ancient buildings based on a simplified procedure.

Viene documentata l’accelerazione di conoscenze e competenze maturate nel settore della riqualificazione energetico-ambientale degli edifici storici e messo in evidenza come ciò rappresenti oggi un’ulteriore assicurazione di tutela e di preservazione nel tempo. Efficaci sperimentazioni, eventi scientifico-culturali, linee guida per il retrofit sul delicato ed esigente, quanto energivoro, patrimonio storico hanno segnato indelebilmente questo percorso evolutivo di nuova progettualità, sensibilità e consapevolezza per il “restauro energetico”.
Si riportano anche esempi di tecnologie per l’efficientamento, particolarmente utili per superare alcune criticità specifiche che incontra di norma chi opera in questo campo.

This paper aims to presents a brief overview of the recent history of energy and sustainable retrofitting of existing building heritage from a cultural, technical and regulatory perspective, in order to highlight recent developments in the field. Energy and sustainable retrofitting will be specifically analysed as an effective solution for the preservation of historical buildings, as opposed to previous views, which presented it as merely technical violence on this delicate built environment.
In only eight years the opinions about the subject have radically changed. A number of studies and projects documented in this paper, or just cited for brevity, helped, through forward-thinking and effective solutions, to convince even the most skeptical conservatives.
Moreover, this paper will argue that it is necessary to invest more resources in the field, in order to seize on some opportunities: first of all, implementing EU directives, by retrofitting a given quota of the country's heritage every year. Failing to act in this direction would be a significant loss for Italy, since a relevant portion of its built environment is constituted by historical buildings. A similar opportunity has unfortunately been passed upon in recent years, in occasion of rebuilding after severe earthquakes in recent years.

Una breve panoramica relativa ad alcuni momenti salienti dell’interesse crescente verso la riqualificazione energetico-ambientale del patrimonio edilizio esistente, sia dal punto di vista culturale, sia tecnico e normativo, mostra l’accelerazione di conoscenze e competenze maturate nel settore del recupero degli edifici storici. Viene messo in evidenza come l’efficientamento di quest’ultimi rappresenti oggi un’ulteriore assicurazione di tutela e di preservazione nel tempo. Non si tratta più dunque di un’azione che fino a qualche anno fa era letta come un atto di sopraffazione puramente tecnicistico-prestazionale verso la fabbrica antica e i suoi delicati “ecosistemi” e valori testimoniali.
L’orizzonte di riferimento, in circa solo otto anni, è perciò mutato radicalmente.

This paper aims to presents a brief overview of the recent history of energy and sustainable retrofitting of existing building heritage from a cultural, technical and regulatory perspective, in order to highlight recent developments in the field. Energy and sustainable retrofitting will be specifically analysed as an effective solution for the preservation of historical buildings, as opposed to previous views, which presented it as merely technical violence on this delicate built environment.
In only eight years the opinions about the subject have radically changed.
A number of studies and projects documented in this paper, or just cited for brevity, helped, through forward-thinking and effective solutions, to convince even the most skeptical conservatives.
Furthermore, we will analyse the impact on the sector of cultural and scientific events and new guidelines for the retrofitting of historical buildings (e.g. the official guidelines released by MiBACT) and how these occurrences have engendered a new way of approaching projects for retrofitting of the delicate, but energy-demanding ancient built environment.
For this purpose, some example of technologies implemented for energy retrofitting will be presented, in order to show how typical issues encountered in this field can be overcome.

In un periodo di forte limitazione della spesa pubblica e in generale di crisi economica, occorrono strategie di azione che possano aiutare, soprattutto le Pubbliche Amministrazioni, ad assicurare comunque processi di implementazione sostenibile dei servizi collettivi. Una di queste è certamente la logica del “costruire nel costruito”, costruire cioè nuove “scatole ambientali”, all’interno di grandi e antichi contenitori architettonici con significativi valori testimoniali. Una sorta di riconfigurazione ed allestimento quasi provvisorio che si fonda su un rapporto diretto e suggestivo con l’involucro originario, messo in sicurezza e fotografato nel momento della sua dimissione, conservando ogni traccia possibile del suo vissuto, talvolta anche difficile e doloroso. Vengono inoltre affrontati brevemente alcuni aspetti di rigenerazione urbana, di sostenibilità ambientale ed economica, di fattibilità tecnica e normativa.

Because of the economic crisis and therefore spending review programs, strong action strategies are required in order to help Public Administration to ensure processes of sustainable implementation of collective services. An example can be found in the logic of “building on existing buildings”, in other words an approach for designing new “environmental boxes” inside of large and ancient architectural containers with significant historical and cultural values.
It can be considered an almost provisional settlement and reorganization based on a direct and suggestive connection with the original envelope, that is secured and photographed at the moment of its disposal, by maintaining every possible trace of its past.
After that, the community is eventually able to process this image of “temporary” and “unfinished” and make it a permanent and an identifying representation.
The kind of intervention is based on principles of low-budget and profile, with maximum reversibility and minimum impact, functional flexibility in time and, not least, zero-wasting of new territory, as we consider existing buildings can represent an opportunity of a new “active” life cycle.
What is most astonishing is the emotional result, which is figurative and captivating at the same time (documented in the case studies reported here).
This outcome results when the socio-cultural past of the building and its constructive representation have to deal with the architectural image of the new function for the community.
The paper also briefly discusses about some aspect of urban regeneration, of environmental and economic sustainability, of technical feasibility and legislation. In particular some evaluations concerning: the energy balance between the case of demolition-reconstruction and these particular interventions of recovery; the guarantees of flexibility in time and the possibility of intervention processes that can be faced in further phases; the opportunities to reduce renovation costs; the preliminary technical evaluations, with a special regard to structural analysis and lighting and ventilation conditions.

L’articolo presenta un approccio innovativo alla progettazione dell’illuminazione notturna da applicare in contesti architettonici storici, per fornire un’alternativa alla prassi frequente che tende a falsare la corretta lettura degli organismi edilizi. L’illuminazione, quale parte della progettazione dell’architettura stessa, ha il compito di restituire una “identità notturna” ai luoghi della città.
La strategia per raggiungere questo risultato si basa principalmente sulla riduzione dell’intensità luminosa in ambiente urbano e al contempo sulla valorizzazione degli elementi plastici, materici e cromatici delle sue costruzioni.

The paper presents an innovative approach to lighting design, to be applied to historic architectural contexts, as an alternative to the general illumination trend that tends to distort the correct reading of the building.
Lighting design, as a part of the whole architectural project, is responsible for the restoration of the urban “night identity”.
To achieve such result, the strategy goes toward the reduction of lighting intensity in the urban environment, and the valorisation of constructions’ sculptural, material and chromatic characteristics.
To define the lighting model, the study has followed two stages: the first, to investigate the light’s physical characteristics; the second, to study and test lighting devices and identify the suitable ones for the valorisation of historic buildings. To this regard, Palazzo Tassoni Estense in Ferrara was selected as case study. To be more specific, the on-field test sessions were operated on its East façade, conceived as a sum of three overlapping layers: the first layer interests the outer skin; the second concerns indoor environments (perceived from outside through the openings); the third is made by protruded and cave-in spaces of the façade (porches, terraces, windows intradoses, singular features as decorated frames or extruded elements, etc.).
For each layer, specific lighting strategies and typologies were elaborated.
The proposition for layer 1 criticizes the exterior lighting style made with concentrated spotlights, which arbitrarily highlight certain sector and features of the façade leaving others in total darkness. As a counter-proposal, a uniform base light is suggested: a faint “moonlight-looking” effect to integrally illuminate the building elevation without emphasizing particular spots.
However, the achieved effect tends to flatten the sculptural values of the façade; therefore it is combined with the lighting strategies introduced by layer 2 and 3.
The final result is reached, after several test on the case study, thanks to the use of the LED technology, which allows for a better management of the light, electronically changing its main features (colour temperature, intensity, colour).
Finally, a lighting device prototype has been designed to turn the illumination program into practice.

Vengono brevemente esposti i risultati del workshop progettuale “Quali(ci)ty. Redesign and energy efficiency for a sustainable quality of life” che la Facoltà di Architettura di Ferrara è stata invitata a organizzare al MADE EXPO 2012, insieme a una mostra e ad alcune conferenze. Il tema sviluppato è stato quello della smart city e della sostenibilità ambientale, economica e sociale della città contemporanea, applicato a processi di rigenerazione di aree dismesse come rifiuto delle dinamiche di semplice demolizione e ricostruzione. Elementi fondanti sono la multiscalarità e la multidisciplinarietà del progetto.

The Faculty of Architecture - University of Ferrara (Degree in Architecture and Degree in Industrial Product Design), through the Research Center Architettura>Energia and the Material Design Laboratory, lead the 5th edition of the “Workshop of Architecture”, organized by the international journal OfArch as part of the MADE 2012. Within the expo, the design workshop and an exhibition presented the academic and research results, integrated with a rich program of conferences and debates. The workshop, titled “Quali(ci)ty. Redesign and energy efficiency for a sustainable quality of life”, examined a design-applicative theme. The specific case study consisted of the MAPRE (fruit and vegetable marketplace) and the CAP (Farmers’ Cooperative) of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Altogether, a medium-sized complex currently abandoned, located on the edges of the historical city and close to the main road connections. The high-density buildings are used as office facilities and date back to the Fifties. The area also contains a series of industrial and technical buildings, some of which deserve to be reclaimed to improve the city’s physical and functional organization. The MAPRE still works, but it will eventually moved elsewhere. A strategic component of the project is the improvement of the connections between the site itself and the historical centre. The topic is the “smart city”, with the different sustainable options identified by the local administration. This will lead to cultural attractions, to improve living standards and to generate wellness for the inhabitants. So, which expertise can be put to used by the Faculty of Architecture of Ferrara? And which guidelines can be elaborated for the renewal, the reconstruction and the regeneration of a city? Beside the specific project site, the workshop aimed at demonstrating: an efficient approach to the problem, focusing on multi-scales and a multi-disciplinary design contribution; an osmotic interface with the territory and with the requirements of the authorities and the local production realities; the need to control and optimize the mobility and the energy processes of the overall “life-cycle”. Preserving and refurbishing most of the existing constructions, instead of demolishing and building new ones, helped achieving the target.

Si documenta la parte della ricerca che si occupa della sperimentazione di un metodo di indagine strumentale per la definizione delle prestazioni energetiche degli edifici storici allo stato di fatto. La mancanza di specifici strumenti di indagine del comportamento energetico per questo tipo di costruzione spinge a elaborare un metodo alternativo di analisi che permetta di ottenere un dato quanto più preciso possibile. Tale dato di partenza, infatti, consente di progettare al meglio l'intervento di riqualificazione energetica e guida verso la scelta di strategie operative, tecnologie e materiali più adeguati per il rispetto dei valori architettonici e testimoniali del bene e verso la conservazione della capacità intrinseca di un edificio storico di controllare il microclima interno.

The paper presents the research about the testing of a method of survey instruments for the definition of the energy performance of historical buildings. The lack of specific tools for calculating the energy performance of ancient buildings leads to apply the general rules (UNI TS 11300) also to the historical, without taking into account some technological and morphological characteristics of the old building, which instead can make the calculation of the energy behaviour for a correct design of interventions particularly difficult.
The greatest problem lies in the difficulty of ascertaining the real composition of the housing envelope, especially in situations where the most valuable is not even possible to perform small investigative surveys. This makes it impossible, in many cases, to apply the analytical method in a comprehensive and precise way, with the risk of affecting the final result. The heterogeneity of the walls makes it extremely difficult to estimate their transmittance, because in many cases they are made of bricks of different nature, with the presence of empty spaces or mixed textures.
Another difficult aspect to consider is the presence of thermal bridges borders, such as the detachment frame-wall flues hidden, previous restoration, ceiling concealed by works of decorum or the presence of local buffers (ie basements, attics) that can cause dynamic changes to the conditions governing the thermal exchanges. Only when the building is equipped with its own heating system (if not very common), you can identify these features with the help of thermography. Otherwise, you need to trust only to the study of the sources and proceed by analogy with similar cases. This is not always possible. For this reason, it is necessary to investigate, on the one hand, the instruments now available to the designer to make these evaluations, on the other, provide simplified tools for the estimation of these parameters. The objective of the memory is to highlight the first results on the testing of a simplified method of instrumental survey.