Technological Innovations for Buildings and Systems

The term innovation may be interpreted in various ways: as a novelty, as a change, as improvements or as a response to strategic objectives. The last one is the interpretation which we will refer to in this memory. Generally when we think about technological innovation, we refer to sectors such as offices or hospitals where the most sophisticated innovation are traditionally tested. But it is necessary to make in evidence that in the medium and long term the housing sector is that will be most affected by the process of technological innovation. In such sector the current design practice is going to be fully reviewed. This not only because it is still a backlog, but it will be hit by increasingly strategic issues related to the need for a consistent energy use of available renewable energy resources and for facing other emerging environmental issues. In addition innovation will grow up not only in the field of components and subsystems, an aspect that will become increasingly important, but also it will involve the overall building design looking for the development of an efficient and sophisticated functions integration between building (envelope) system and plant systems: to overcome the cur-rent practice which relays on the system installation function and stage to cope with defects.