Environment, Technology, Architecture. Application of Green Technologies for the Rehabilitation and Energy Renovation of the Modern Built Heritage.

In the challenge of striking a balance between the valorization of architectural works defining the history and culture of a place and the necessity to respond adeptly yet decisively to contemporary needs regarding the current climate crisis, this contribution offers a reflection on the utilization of green technologies on built heritage for the purpose of enhancing efficiency and rehabilitating buildings inherently inadequate to contemporary environmental challenges. The reflection is articulated starting from the social and pedagogical significance accompanying some architecturally and, in some cases, historically prominent buildings to understand the most suitable intellectual approach for these architectures to withstand the changing needs demanded by present-day challenges. In particular, the contribution presents the case study of implementing a microalgae production device on the facade of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris for CO2 biofixation. This strategy aims to find a balance between the carbon dioxide produced by the existing building and that absorbed, subject to studies and research also conducted by the Politecnico di Milano. Given the tendency for the building’s scale to lean more towards the urban than the architectural, the research explores the possibility of installing a significant series of bioreactors containing microalgae on the west facade capable of absorbing part of the CO2 produced by museum visitors, thus mitigating the carbon-related impact of the building’s operation—which is inevitably present due to technological and compositional aspects. By comparing the performance of this system with planting an equivalent number of trees in an urban environment, it is evident that the benefits of the former are clearly predominant. The use of new technologies and materials in historically or modernly impactful buildings in the city contributes, beyond scientific advancement, to sensitizing the population to the issues of global warming, urging society as a whole to adopt more responsible behaviors that reference natural-based solutions. Beyond the specific biochemical aspects of CO2 biofixation technology through microalgae, the contribution focuses on providing a reflection on the concrete possibility of gently accompanying a ‘monumental’ building in the challenge with the needs of the third millennium, focusing on the architectural, as well as environmental, impact of the intervention, in order to promote proactive human behaviors capable of conveying the intrinsic manifest factor of the building, in its communicative, educational, and formative component. This reflection, presented through the specific case of the Centre Pompidou, constitutes the opportunity to initiate a broader discussion regarding the efficiency of existing architectural heritage and the relationship between environment, architecture, and technology, an increasingly current and impactful challenge.