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Electrochromic systems for smart windows make it possible to enhance energy efficiency in the construction sector, in both residential and tertiary buildings. The dynamic modulation of the spectral properties of a glazing, within the visible and infrared ranges of wavelengths, allows one to adapt the thermal and optical behavior of a glazing to the everchanging conditions of the environment in which the building is located. This allows appropriate control of the penetration of solar radiation within the building. The consequent advantages are manifold and are still being explored in the scientific literature. On the one hand, the reduction in energy consumption for summer air conditioning (and artificial lighting, too) becomes significant, especially in \"cooling dominated\" climates, reaching high percentages of saving, compared to common transparent windows; on the other hand, the continuous adaptation of the optical properties of the glass to the changing external conditions makes it possible to set suitable management strategies for the smart window, in order to offer optimal conditions to take advantage of daylight within the confined space. This review aims at a critical review of the relevant literature concerning the benefits obtainable in terms of energy consumption and visual comfort, starting from a survey of the main architectures of the devices available today.

[...]whatever the purpose, such devices should be sustainable, have a low impact in terms of life cycle assessment, and possibly involve the use of recycled materials or natural products. [10] reviewed the current literature on the topic of innovative concretes with acoustic-oriented properties. [...]treatments oriented to improve both sound-absorbing and sound-insulating characteristics were discussed, including porous and aerated concretes, concretes with special aggregates like recycled rubber crumbs, expanded polystyrene, synthetic fibers, recycled aggregates, mollusk shells, and foam glass. [12] investigated the potential of compressible constrained layer damping (CCLD) that is a semi-active, lightweight-compatible solution for vibration mitigation based on a base structure, a constraining plate, and a compressible open-cell foam core in between, enabling the adjustment of the structure’s vibration behavior by changing the core compression using different actuation pressures.

The Sistine Chapel, originally designed to accommodate papal ceremonies, featured a system for hanging tapestries that ensured they were deployed according to the liturgical calendar. These textiles not only served as temporary decorative elements but also contributed to the acoustical environment. Historical records suggest that Renaissance popes, particularly Leo X, were attuned to the impact of textiles on sound, experimenting with their placement to optimize acoustics for sermons and polyphonic music. Given the lack of direct historical acoustical measurements, this study employs a computational simulation approach to model the chapel’s acoustics with and without the presence of tapestries and human occupancy. A crucial first step involved characterizing the absorption coefficients of surface finishings in order to obtain a reliable model of the space and investigate modifications induced by tapestries. The study revealed that the presence of tapestries reduced reverberation time at mid-frequencies from 7.4 s to 5.1 s in the empty chapel and from 4.1 s to 3.4 s when occupied. The results corroborate historical observations, who noted the effects of tapestries on vocal clarity in papal ceremonies. The findings demonstrate that textiles played a significant role in controlling acoustics within the Sistine Chapel, complementing the liturgical experience.

This paper holds a critical review of current research activities dealing with smart architectural glazing worldwide. Hereafter, the main trends are analyzed and critically reported, with open issues, challenges, and opportunities, providing an accurate description of technological evolution of devices in time. This manuscript deals with some well-known, highly performing technologies, such as semitransparent photovoltaics and novel photoelectrochromic devices, the readiest, probably, to reach the final stage of development, to disclose the manifold advantages of multifunctional, smart glazing. The complex, overall effects of their building integration are also reported, especially regarding energy balance and indoor visual comfort in buildings.

Sound absorbing surfaces are being increasingly requested for the acoustical treatment of spaces, like offices and restaurants, where high aesthetic standards are requested. In these cases, perforated and micro-perforated panels may represent the ideal solution in terms of low maintenance, durability, and mechanical resistance. In addition, such a solution might be conveniently realized while using optically transparent panels, which might offer extra value, as they could ensure visual contact, while remaining neutral in terms of design. The paper first investigates the reliability of prediction models by comparison with measured data. Subsequently, while taking advantage of a parametric optimization algorithm, it is shown how to design an absorber covering three octave bands, from 500 Hz to 2 kHz, with an average sound absorption coefficient of about 0.8.

A growing research interest currently exists in the use of paper as a building material. This work aims to present the results of a measurement campaign developed on innovative waste paper-based building components. The research was carried out in Southern Italy and used some local by-product aggregates. Three different mixture designs were developed in the laboratory by adding three kinds of biomass to a pulp paper blend: fava bean residues (FB), sawdust powder (SP) and coffee grains (CG) extracted from exhausted chaffs. A physical characterization was carried out measuring the bulk density and bulk porosity. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis of the single aggregates was followed by a microstructure analysis of the final components. Bulk density evaluation showed a range between 200 and 348 kg·m−3. Furthermore, thermal performances were measured; the thermal conductivity of the experimented samples ranged from 0.071 to 0.093 W·m−1·K−1, thus it is possible to classify the tested materials as thermal insulators. Moreover, the acoustic properties were evaluated and tested. The normal incidence sound absorption coefficient was measured by the impedance tube on cylindrical specimens. In general, a different behavior was observed between the upper and lower base of each specimen due to the manufacturing process and the shrinkage caused by the different interactions occurring between the aggregates and the pulp paper waste; for example, the presence of sawdust reduced shrinkage in the final specimens, with consequent smaller physical variations among the two faces. The correlation existing between the manufacturing process and the microstructural properties was also investigated by the estimation of the non-acoustical parameters using the inverse method and taking into account the JCA (Johnson, Champoux and Allard) model as a reference.

In recent years, the interest in reusing recycled fibers as building materials has been growing as a consequence of their ability to reduce the production of waste and the use of virgin resources, taking advantage of the potential that fibrous materials may offer to improve thermal and acoustic comfort. Composite panels, made of 100% wool waste fibers and bound by means of either a chitosan solution and a gum Arabic solution, were tested and characterized in terms of acoustic and non-acoustic properties. Samples with a 5 cm thickness and different density values were made to investigate the influence of flow resistivity on the final performance. Experimental results demonstrated that the samples had thermal conductivity ranging between 0.049 and 0.060 W/(m K), well comparable to conventional building materials. Similarly, acoustic results were very promising, showing absorption coefficients that, for the given thickness, were generally higher than 0.5 from 500 Hz on, and higher than 0.9 from 1 kHz on. Finally, the effects of the non-acoustic properties and of the air gap behind the samples on the acoustic behavior were also analyzed, proving that the agreement with absorption values predicted by empirical models was also very good.

In this paper, we have carefully studied the scientific literature dealing with the use of passive radiative surfaces within the construction industry. The aim of this paper is to highlight technologies and materials for daylight radiative cooling under study today—or already on the market—and to report their main characteristics, performance and, where possible, costs. Following a review of the available scientific literature, the advantages and limitations of such an option were highlighted, seeking to capture opportunities and future lines of research development. This review also provides the physical laws that evaluate the energy balance of passive radiative surfaces as well as the criteria to quantify all the terms of these equations.

The significant increase in construction industry demand with its negative effects on energy consumption is particularly evident in areas with severe climatic factors. Here, the designers aim at providing comfort with the least amount of energy, and consequently have resorted to using different software tools to choose the optimal solution in the early phase of design to avoid time and cost losses. The use of smart innovative technologies such as electrochromic (EC) glazing may provide an important contribution in reducing consumptions while providing good thermal and visual comfort conditions. Nonetheless, as shown in the literature, such glazing should be used and managed carefully to avoid any adverse effects or low performance. Thus, a parametric simulation was carried out using Rhinoceros and Grasshopper to assess the advantages in terms of energy use resulting from use of EC glazing in residential buildings as a function of façade orientation and window-to-wall ratio (WWR) with reference to the city of Biskra, located in the northeastern region of Algeria. Eight main orientations and ten WWR scenarios were investigated in order to evaluate the benefit of using this technology in the selected climatic region. The research results proved the benefit of using EC glazing in all orientations, with energy savings ranging from 35.88% in the northern façade to 60.47% in the southwestern façade.

Rupestrian churches are spaces obtained from excavation of soft rocks that are frequently found in many Mediterranean countries. In the present paper the church dedicated to Saints Andrew and Procopius, located close to the city of Monopoli in Apulia (Italy) is studied. On-site acoustical measures were made, obtaining a detailed description of the acoustics in the current state pointing out, thanks to a combination of analysis techniques, the presence of significant modal behavior in the low frequencies, causing reverberation time to be about 2 s, four times longer than in the other bands, as well as being strongly dependent on source and receiver position (with variations of about 1 s when source is moved outside the chancel). However, as the church is characterized by significant degradation of surfaces and large amounts of debris cover the floor, the original acoustic conditions can be expected to somewhat differ. Acoustical modelling can be very helpful in grasping the original conditions, but given the small dimensions of the space, conventional geometrical acoustic prediction methods cannot be applied to simulate the low-frequency behavior. Thus, the present paper proposes an application of finite-difference-time-domain (FDTD) computation to simulate the low-frequency behavior and analyze a possible reconstruction of the original state. Results showed that a very good agreement was obtained between predictions and measurements, both in terms of resonance frequencies and reverberation times that differed by less than 5%. Modal response strongly affected the acoustical conditions also in the hypothetical reconstruction of the original state, although the sound field proved to be more uniform than in the current state.