The aim of this paper is to propose a methodology for supporting decision making in design activities; in case of new projects or retrofitting of existing buildings. A multidisciplinary approach is adopted; involving Real Estate Appraisal and Economic Evaluation of Project and Building Environmental Design. It is proposed a methodology for selecting the preferable solutions among technological options; considering both economic and environmental aspects; in terms of global performance. Assuming the principles of Life Cycle Thinking and Circular Economy focus is posed at the end-of-life stage. Attention is paid on disposal costs and residual value as relevant items enable to orient investment decisions. This is done through an approach for quantifying environmental indicators related to Life Cycle Assessment (Standard ISO 14040:2006); and economic indicators adopting the Life Cycle Costing (Standard ISO 15686:2008). The paper proposes a conjoint “economic-environmental indicator”. An application of Global Cost calculation is illustrated; including monetized environmental impacts (Embodied energy and Embodied carbon); disposal/dismantling costs and residual value. The result of the Global Cost calculation is expressed through a “synthetic economic-environmental indicator” in order to select; between two different technologies; the most viable solution for a multifunctional building glass façade project; in Northern Italy. The study demonstrates that the initial investment decisions depend on the design solutions; since the early stages; related to the whole building life cycle considering conjointly the construction-management phases and the end-of-life stage.

Vegetation in architecture can be considered a proper design strategy that is aimed at improving not only the performances of buildings, but also the outdoor climate. Different technological solutions have been proposed over the years to cover buildings with vegetation, i.e. green roofs, green walls and green balconies. A particular typology of green wall, which has recently been gaining high consensus among designers, is the vertical greenery modular system (VGMS). The positive impact of this type of technology on the performance of buildings is related to several factors, such as the façade orientation, the use of the building, climatic conditions, the type of plants, the substrates and wall assemblies, as well as mechanical and technological issues. A multidisciplinary approach is therefore needed, and different skills have to be joined together right from the early design phase in order to optimize and balance all the aspects that are involved. In this framework, a research project has been carried out in Turin (North West Italy), with the aim of developing a novel VGMS, constituted by a modular box covered with vegetation, made up of recycled/natural and highly performing materials from the energy/environmental point of view. After the design phase, the actual performance of the VGMS was assessed, through laboratory and long-term in field monitoring, and at the same time, the technological issues, biometric parameters, and the acoustic, thermal and mechanical aspects were investigated

The aim of this paper is to grow the literature on methodological approaches directed to find out the most preferable retrofit design solutions for Energy-Efficient Buildings, sustainable from both an environmental and economic point of view. The paper proposes a methodology based on the integration of two existing approaches and finalized to support designers, constructors, developers, and public authorities in the decision-making process. The first approach is based on a joint application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC). The outputs are proposed as an input to the second approach, the Strategic Choice Approach (SCA), considered as a preliminary “platform” in which information deriving from three specific disciplines (“Materials Science and Technology”, “Environmental Technology” and “Real Estate Market Evaluation”) could be structured, shared and accessed by stakeholders, in order to facilitate the decision-making process. First findings are illustrated through an application of the proposed methodology on a case study in the city of Turin (Northern Italy). The selected case study constitutes a reference building for the Turin area because it represents the building construction techniques that mostly need to be refurbished in order to reduce energy consumptions at building level and, as a consequence, at urban level.

Greenery is recognized as strategic element for the design and the regeneration of sustainable cities and buildings. Building integrated vegetation (BIV) offers many ecological benefits and an increasing number of local authorities, urban planners and architects are aware of these. Living Wall Systems (LWSs) can be classified as a BIV. LWSs can be assumed as self-sufficient vertical gardens that are attached to the exterior or interior of a building. Their environmental properties are remarkable, for these cities encouraging architects to use them. Nevertheless technical standards dealing with design, construction and maintenance of LWSs are rarely available. The objective of the research is to stimulate the LWSs development providing a technical standard proposal with information, and specifications. It tackles some aspects that should be considered significant in a standard such as: design guidelines; maintenance procedures; requirements and indicators for assessing the expected performances. The outcome of the paper can be used a first framework to make available harmonized information to stakeholders engaged in design, off-site and on-site production, as well as in operation and repair. The standard proposal encourages innovative and responsible LWS development, with a focus on ecological requirements. The proposal standard was implemented in consistency to an Italian standard (UNI 11235:2015). The UNI 11235 contains the instructions for designing, building up, monitoring and maintaining the green roofs. Although UNI 11235 is not an international standard it is based on a robust framework that can be applied at global scale and most importantly to LWS

Construction is a crucial sector in terms of worldwide environmental impacts. Building material production along with transport and demolition are no exception, because in the last decades, they have constantly increased their carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. Actions and initiatives are therefore important to tackle the relationship between buildings and climate change. Particularly, it is necessary to develop Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools useful to calculate the environmental impact of buildings and to make them accessible to designers and stakeholders acting in the building sector. The article aims to contribute to the international debate about environmental assessment indicators for buildings and the simplified LCA based tools. The Embodied Energy (EE) and the Embodied Carbon (EC) have been investigated. The former, related to primary energy content; the latter, associated with the equivalent carbon dioxide emissions. EE and EC have been used as indicators for the development of a calculation tool named EURECA, for assessing the environmental impact of the building over its life cycle, as defined by the EN 15978:2011 standard. The Solar Decathlon Latin America and Caribbean’s house designed and built by an international academic team has been an opportunity to check the indicators and the tool’s effectiveness.