The Architectural Technology Courses held in DPA 3rd year – Principles of Environmental Technological Design, Environmental Technological Design, and Eco-building within the Architectural Design Studio – aim at supplying basic knowledge, methods and tools for designing a building in which functional needs, regulation constraints, environmental context conditions, and construction techniques and materials be integrated.
Within the two lecture courses, theoretical aspects will be dealt with supplying basic concepts and simplified methods for context analyses as well as preliminary and schematic building design.
Within the Architectural Design Studio, Eco-building contribution will allow for applying the above mentioned concepts and methods to a practical design experience.

- Acquisition of an environmental approach to building design through a basic knowledge of:
• building context and relevant energy and material resources;
• functions of building’s elements and subsystems;
• technological characteristics of materials;
• principles of the interaction between a building and its context in order to optimise the design process from an environmental point of view.

- Acquisition of skills in using basic methods and tools for an eco-compatible building design.

- Knowledge of the performance-based theory for building analyses.
- Ability to analyse the built environment according to a technological classification system.
- Ability to understand and represent building’s components and relevant functional characteristics.

Moreover, for the Eco-building contribution in the Architectural Design Studio, knowledge of graphical representation rules at various scales is essential.

The ETD course intends to supply basic knowledge, methods, and tools for a sustainable approach to preliminary building design.
The following phases/topics are foreseen.
a) Introduction – A brief history of the environmental approach to building design; the basic rules of environmental technological design. (2 hours)
b) Site-climate analyses – methods to evaluate access to/protection from solar radiation and wind, for a building to be designed in a given location. (20 hours)
c) Building Programming – town-planning constraints; building code requirements; technological and environmental requirements from the client brief. (8 hours)
d) Schematic Building Design - energy-efficient building geometry; energy-efficient and environmentally sound building envelop; design for health and comfort; eco-sustainable technical systems (energy, water, and waste savings). (10 hours)
e) Building Design Evaluation – simplified methods and tools to assess the environmental and energy performances of building design solutions. (20 hours)

Delivery of exercises – numerical and graphical – by student teams of about 1-3 individuals is foreseen during a step-by-step environmental technological design process on a case-study project. A final delivery – numerical and graphical – by each students team is foreseen on a synthesis of results from the design work carried out and organized in plates (site design, building programming, schematic design, building design evaluation) and in a technical book. In addition, an individual in-classroom final test will be held on theoretical topics developed during the course.

As theoretical references the following publications are suggested:
1) Lechner, N. (2009). Heating, Cooling, Lighting: Sustainable Design Methods for Architects, Third Edition, 698 pages. John Wiley & Sons Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, USA.
2) Brown, G.Z. and DeKay, M. (2001). Sun, Wind & Light: Architectural Design Strategies, Second Edition, 282 pages. John Wiley & Sons Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, USA.
3) Boutet, T.S. (1987). Controlling Air Movement: a Manual for Architects and Builders, 318 pages. McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, NY, USA.
4) Grosso, M. (2017). Il raffrescamento passivo degli edifici in zone a clima temperato, 4th Edition, 450 pages. Maggioli, Sant’Arcangelo di Romagna.
In addition, support documentation for the exercise activity – such as guidelines, EXCEL files, and calculation programmes – will be made available through the course web-site together with specific scientific references.

Students’ learning performance will be carried by assessing and grading:
a. delivered building design solutions on the case-study project by students’ teams (intermediate evaluation without scoring to assess the learning process of each students’ team);
b. final synthesis of results from the whole case-study building design process by students’ teams (50% of the final score – delivered one week before the date of the final exam).
c. a final exam including an individual test on theoretical topics described during lectures (40% of the final score) and a discussion with each students team on the case-study project (10% of the final score).
Scoring will be defined based on the maximum score of 30. In the case of a failure to reach the minimum score, the final exam can be held at the next call (no more than once) by presenting an up-graded version of the building design case-study project and/or redoing the individual test. The weighting system shall be communicated to the students at the beginning of the course.