Waste management represents a critical issue that industrialized countries must necessarily deal with. Sustainable architecture involves the reuse of materials with the aim of significantly reducing the amount of waste produced. In this study, a new layered membrane metamaterial was developed based on three layers of a reused PVC membrane and reused metal washers attached. The membranes were fixed to a rigid support, leaving a cavity between the stacked layers. The samples were used to measure the sound absorption coefficient with an impedance tube. Different configurations were analyzed, changing the number of masses attached to each layer and the geometry of their position. These measurements were subsequently used to train a model based on artificial neural networks for the prediction of the sound absorption coefficient. This model was then used to identify the metamaterial configuration that returns the best absorption performance. The designed metamaterial behaves like an acoustic absorber even at low frequencies.

The Byzantine churches built between the 7th and the 15th centuries represent an architectural typology that has been developed along with other architectural styles. The evolution of the interior organization, to be composed of only a single nave for the oldest architecture and then developed with additional lateral naves, is one of the multiple aspects that characterizes this building type, studied mainly from an architectural perspective. The variety of roof morphology, being flat, double slope, vaulted or domed, contributes to determining the overall acoustics. This paper deals with the analysis of the acoustic characteristics related to five Byzantine churches located in Albania, specifically in Berat and Cete. A comparison of the impulse response (IR) measured inside each church was given by analyzing the most appropriate acoustic parameters and in line with ISO 3382. The acoustic surveys were undertaken with a minimal furniture and without any audience. The results highlight small difficulties in terms of speech understanding, especially under a speech clarity index found to be below the optimal range limit. This shortfall is attributed to the geometry of the volumes and to the reflecting materials applied to the surfaces that facilitate the build-up of sound energy.

Integrating the representation of the territory, through airborne remote sensing activities with hyperspectral and visible sensors, and managing complex data through dimensionality reduction for the identification of cannabis plantations, in Albania, is the focus of the research proposed by the multidisciplinary group of the Benecon University Consortium. In this study, principal components analysis (PCA) was used to remove redundant spectral information from multiband datasets. This makes it easier to identify the most prevalent spectral characteristics in most bands and those that are specific to only a few bands. The survey and airborne monitoring by hyperspectral sensors is carried out with an Itres CASI 1500 sensor owned by Benecon, characterized by a spectral range of 380–1050 nm and 288 configurable channels. The spectral configuration adopted for the research was developed specifically to maximize the spectral separability of cannabis. The ground resolution of the georeferenced cartographic data varies according to the flight planning, inserted in the aerial platform of an Italian Guardia di Finanza’s aircraft, in relation to the orography of the sites under investigation. The geodatabase, wherein the processing of hyperspectral and visible images converge, contains ancillary data such as digital aeronautical maps, digital terrain models, color orthophoto, topographic data and in any case a significant amount of data so that they can be processed synergistically. The goal is to create maps and predictive scenarios, through the application of the spectral angle mapper algorithm, of the cannabis plantations scattered throughout the area. The protocol consists of comparing the spectral data acquired with the CASI1500 airborne sensor and the spectral signature of the cannabis leaves that have been acquired in the laboratory with ASD Fieldspec PRO FR spectrometers. These scientific studies have demonstrated how it is possible to achieve ex ante control of the evolution of the phenomenon itself for monitoring the cultivation of cannabis plantations.

Floods are among the most devastating natural hazards in the world, causing the largest percentage of deaths and property damage. The impact of floods can be mitigated with an adequate knowledge of the territory, which makes it possible to better organize prevention plans with an appropriate analysis of the risk areas, which allows the management of relief efforts quickly and adequately. This work presents a methodology for mapping and monitoring the areas affected by floods and landslides by remote sensing: the correct representation and full interpretation of the territory matrix are essential for quality and sustainability design. In this paper, we used tools and technology that allow us to analyze and visualize the landscape evolution. The calibration of the method was performed on the events that took place in Calabria, in Southern Italy, on 12 August 2015. The proposed methodology concerned the planning of acquisition flights, the selection and setting of the sensors used, and the processing and post-processing of the data collected through the application of algorithms used for data manipulation and interpretation. The process of recognizing the areas with deposits of debris through the spectral signature was carried out using similarity criteria relating to hyperspectral data. The results obtained recommend the adoption of this methodology to deal with emergencies due to flood events.

The sustainable rehabilitation of existing buildings is essential to achieve urban resilience, resource efficiency and seismic risk reduction. This study investigates an integrated retrofit strategy that combines vertical extension with inter-story isolation to simultaneously enhance seismic performance and energy efficiency, creating additional usable space without additional land consumption. The inter-story isolation mechanism reduces seismic demand by decoupling a new and existing structure and introducing beneficial damping effects, whereas vertical extension improves a building’s envelope to reduce energy demands for heating and cooling. A tailored design methodology for integrated intervention is presented, according to which, for the structural part, a two-degrees-of-freedom dynamic model is adopted to design the characteristics of the isolation layer. The methodology is applied to a case-study building located in L’Aquila, Italy, where two alternative vertical extensions, one rigid and one lightweight, are analyzed. Time-history analyses and energy simulations for annual primary energy demand are carried out to assess the structural and thermal performance of the integrated retrofit. The results indicate that the proposed solution can reduce top-floor acceleration by up to 35%, inter-story drift by 30–35%, base shear by over 30% and primary energy demand by 11%, demonstrating its effectiveness in improving both seismic safety and energy performance. The main novelty of this study lies in the systematic integration of inter-story isolation with building envelope enhancement through vertical extension, offering a unified design framework that merges structural and energy retrofitting objectives into a single sustainable intervention.

This paper deals with the measured values of the acoustic absorbing coefficient related to some materials employed into complex casing structures under architectural and geometrical perspective. The analyzed materials are composed of PVC sheets or of sound absorbing melamine tested inside an impedance tube modified for this purpose. The materials are suspended such that the acoustic absorption is due only to the vibration of the material subject to the incident soundwave. This process has been executed by substituting the rigid and smooth end cap of the tube with another anechoic that simulates the behavior of the air at the back of the suspended material. The outcomes of the measurements have been reported in the frequency bands comprised between 200 Hz and 2 kHz. On this basis, the results can be utilized as input data of the software employed for the acoustic simulations of the room volumes that are intended to be designed.