Technology of the Multi-Layer Façade Systems. Executive Design, Construction Methodologies and Experimental Applications

The study, developed inside the Poli-Façades sector of the experimental laboratory Material Balance Research within the Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering – ABC Department at the Politecnico di Milano, examines the potentialities of the advanced envelope systems with respect to the principles of sustainability aimed at environmental interaction procedures, directed at the calibration of the climatic stresses, the containment of dissipation and the aid of renewable energy sources. The advanced envelope systems under investigation, expressed as an evolution of the façade systems (as an evolved configuration of the curtain wall, within the geometric and material continuity of the light façades), are carried out with respect to the contemporary buildings of an experimental nature (with especially tertiary and commercial uses), in customized forms and in analogy with the notion of the machine-envelope. The analysis considers the advanced envelope systems as mechanical bodies, active diaphragms and membranes that promote or hinder exchanges (luminous, thermal, aeriform and acoustic) with the external environment, playing a role in energy regulation. Furthermore, the analysis observes the construction and use of techniques, components and functional devices aimed at both the reduction of losses or the accumulation of heat (resulting from radiation), and the dynamic selection of sunlight and the calibration of natural light. Therefore, the study of the envelope makes explicit the physical, material and performance contents according to the criteria of action towards both energy and environmental conditions, and ergonomic conditions through the procedures of reflection, capture and diffusion of the stresses external or internal to the built spaces. The research focuses on the passive type of transformation, aimed at accumulating and distributing the energy produced by solar radiation without the use of plant equipment and without the contribution of devices (in the form of collectors) aimed at integrating and conveying heat, natural light or convection phenomena related to the airflows. The applied technologies and, in particular, the components and devices of the envelope are assumed with respect to the processes of eco-efficient interaction and permeability towards thermo-hygrometric, light and air stresses (determining the criteria of energy and environmental control of a selective and dynamic type), with the possibility of regulating the flows and conveying them in the overall functioning of the construction. In this experimental scenario, the advanced envelope systems are studied as mediating and reacting apparatuses towards external loads, in accordance with settlement needs and requirements (as an environmentally conscious design activity). The methodological structure of the study intends to examine the advanced envelope systems towards the principles of the environmental and energy sustainability through: the drafting of an explanatory and operational reference contribution, in the absence of cognitive and instrumental supports (within the international scientific and academic literature) capable of exposing the typological, functional and constructive configuration of the systems under examination on the basis of the investigation around the experimental applications towards new buildings; the use of the executive re-elaboration of the systems as a technical tool for understanding and knowledge of the functional modes and sustainable procedures; the drafting of a technical guide to understanding the construction and functional modes, focusing the analysis on the design and construction aspects; the definition of the main functional typologies, established on the basis of the analysis conducted on the experimental case studies, with the aim of achieving at a categorization of the performance and executive potentialities; the possibilities of technology transfer towards common construction, with the aim of increasing environmental and energy sustainability also through applications on the external perimeter enclosures of the existing buildings; the possibilities of technology transfer through the use of standard and non-customized products, so as to increase the diffusion also in the production and construction of mass-produced systems and components.