Plastic materials are increasingly becoming used in the building envelope, despite a lack of investigation on their effects. In this work, an extruded Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene panel has been tested as a second-skin layer in a ventilated facade system using a full-scale facility. The experimental results show that it is possible to achieve performances very similar to conventional materials. A numerical model has then been developed and used to investigate the performances of plastic and composite polymer panels as second-skin layers. The experimental data has been used to verify the behavior of the numerical model, from a thermal point of view, showing good reliability, with a root mean square error lower than 0.40 °C. This model has then been applied in different refurbishment cases upon varying: the polymer and the manufacturing technology (extruded or 3D-printed panels). Eight refurbishment case studies have been carried out on a typical office building located in Napoli (Italy), by means of a dynamic simulation software. The simulation results show that the proposed actions allow the reduction of the thermal and cooling energy demand (up to 6.9% and 3.1%, respectively), as well as the non-renewable primary energy consumption (up to 2.6%), in comparison to the reference case study.

A large amount of the Iranian energy demand is related to the building sector, mainly due to its obsolescence. In this paper, a second-skin system has been implemented as a retrofit action for an office building, evaluating the effect of a tensile material as second-skin in terms of primary energy saving, carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, and simple payback period. The analysis was carried out through numerical simulations across a whole year and for four Iranian cities (Tabriz, Teheran, Yazd, and Bandar Abbas) in four different climates (cold, temperate, hot-dry, and hot-wet), and with the building aligned at either north-south or east-west. Moreover, an economic analysis was carried out suggesting different incentive policies to promote building energy refurbishment. The simulation results highlighted a favorable orientation for buildings in Iran, suggesting a guideline for new constructions. Indeed, the best results were achieved for an east-west orientation of the building (up to a primary energy saving of 13.6% and reduction of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions of 45.5 MgCO₂,eq, in Yazd), with a decrease of the annual specific total (cooling and thermal) energy demand of 37.9 kWh/m²/year. The simple payback period values were also lower in the east-west orientation than the north-south one.

Immersive virtual reality allows showing people virtual environments with high levels of presence, realism, and “feeling of being”, as if they were in the real world. With this aim, virtual environments must provide proper light distributions and elicit sensations similar to those seen in the real world. So far, experiments with human subjects are the most effective way to evaluate the accuracy of virtual reality in reproducing real spaces. This paper investigates the role of subjective assessments in lighting research using virtual reality. According to the review results, the investigations aimed at using immersive virtual reality for lighting can mainly be divided into three groups: (i) comparison between virtual and physical environments, (ii) analysis of different lighting scenarios, and (iii) investigation of users’ interaction with the virtual model. On the one hand, the results show that immersive virtual reality is a useful tool for research and design in lighting. On the other hand, they highlight the limitations that still need to be overcome. Finally, the main findings and gaps concerning the subjective assessment were listed.

Innovative materials and systems for flexible and lightweight energy-efficient solutions in construction can help achieve the objective of more efficient buildings. This literature review categorizes these solutions into three categories: materials/systems topology, design flexibility from 3D-printing technologies, and innovative solutions for building envelope designs. The review shows a significant increase in interest in this research topic in recent years, with an average annual growth rate of about 73%, with most research focused on the design and thermal aspects, as well as the material typology and 3D-printing technologies. According to the review, flexible and lightweight systems can be applied to all building sectors, and retrofitting existing buildings may become the primary approach. However, there is no specific European regulation for these systems, and a more holistic design approach is needed, involving both designers/constructors and users, to plan for actual social, economic, and environmental impacts.