Eco-design principles for a preliminary eco-efficiency assessment in the design phase: application on membrane envelopes

Stating the necessity of increasing the designers’ awareness of both lightweight and flexible materials and their performances, in a life cycle thinking perspective, this contribute is based on the updated identified needs of the membrane sector (Cost Action TU1303, 2017): Life Cycle Assessment, durability aspects, recyclability, social acceptability, thermal, optical, acoustic comforts. Into the frame of the Tensinet association activity, the Textile Architecture Network of Politecnico di Milano is continuing the search of Eco-design strategies and enlarging the mapping of case studies, by the application ex-post of two eco-efficiency principles in order to verify their validness and their efficacy for the designer’s need, during the design process of a membrane system. The main advancement of this work is here presented adding new membranes case studies to the initial analysis. The aim is to verify the applicability of the principles to a wider and different uses of membranes and the identification of reference rates. The results demostrate relations between the rate of the eco- efficiency, the year of construction and the evolution of the technology and the impostance to take into account in the design phases the environmental impact of membrane structures.