Eco-efficiency and life cycle analysis of structural membranes in architecture

In the building sector, there is a growing interest in the architectural membrane structures. Thinking about the actual on-going application of the membrane as building technology: a. the typical materials for textiles and foils are polymer-based, have origin from fossil fuel but become very light building components, compared with other typical ones; b. they are stiffened by steel, aluminium, wood and bamboo structural elements (bio-based or not) and, due to the lightness, they involve less quantities of structural materials than similar common building components. Stating with research results about the state of the art about the sustainability principles in the field of membranes, the paper aims to summarize the collected information and the elaborated concepts, and to relate together the actual obtained results and demonstration by the application of the Life Cycle Assessment methodology on built case studies. A comparison matrix about existing environmental data on fabrics, films and membranes as ultra-lightweight materials (Environmental Impacts, Environmental Product Declarations, Recycling and up-cycling processes) and the LCA studies on the use of textiles in architecture are outputs shown in the paper. Concluding, on the need of harmonization of the research about the availability of data for the LCA of membranes and on the basis of the collected information and the conducted procedures about the LCA of membrane structures, first design pillars for the life cycle design of membranes structures are descripted. Considerations on the gap between the results of the research studies, comprehensive and theoretical, and the real conditions of the architecture design referred to a specific context suggest views for future developments.