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Buildings
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Built Environments and Environmental Buildings
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Built Environments and Environmental Buildings

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 December 2023) | Viewed by 3773

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Pedro Delgado

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. proMetheus, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua Escola Industrial e Comercial Nun’Álvares, 4900-347 Viana do Castelo, Portugal
2. CONSTRUCT-LESE, Faculty of Engineering (FEUP), University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Interests: civil and environmental engineering; bridge design and assessment; rehabilitation and retrofit of structurers; earthquake engineering; experimental testing
Prof. Dr. Joana Maia de Oliveira Almeida

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. proMetheus, Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo, Rua Escola Industrial e Comercial Nun’Álvares, 4900-347 Viana do Castelo, Portugal
2. CONSTRUCT-LESE, Faculty of Engineering (FEUP), University of Porto, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Interests: life-cycle cost analysis; genetic algorithms optimization; sustainable construction materials; degradation models; risk analysis; bridge management systems; structures inspection and assessment; intelligent decision support system
Dr. Romeu da Silva Vicente

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
RISCO - Risks and Sustainability in Construction, Civil Engineering Department, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Interests: advanced building physics; building technology; innovative building solutions and components; material testing; building simulation; sustainable construction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The sustainability and maintenance of the existing building stock and infrastructures is a continuous challenge. The methodologies to assess and protect our built environment have been updated over time in response to severe events, climatic changes, as well as economic, architectural and social development. Learning from past interventions should help to find innovative solutions to achieve improved durability, resilience, comfort and sustainability of the built environment.

In this Special Issue, we invite original contributions describing new research trends, case studies, pilot-projects, reviews and state-of-the-art discussions related to the built environments and environmental buildings. Submissions may concern theoretical or applied research in areas such as building physics, material science, engineering, structural assessment, life-cycle analysis or other fields applied to the preservation, rehabilitation, retrofitting and sustainability of buildings and infrastructures.

We welcome papers on the following and related topics, including, but not limited to:

  • Diagnosis and characterisation of damage of building structures and infrastructures; In situ field test methods, laboratory tests and analysis, numerical simulation and modelling;
  • Testing and/or development of sustainable treatments, products or solutions; Preventive conservation and rehabilitation of constructions;
  • Environmental monitoring, moisture, condensation, etc..;
  • Impact of climate change and environmental conditions; consequences from refurbishments and retrofitting measures: energy efficiency, ventilation, airtightness and moisture in buildings;
  • Efficient use of resources, circular economy principles and life cycle assessment and cost–benefit analysis;
  • Optimize the quality of life of the inhabitants of the built environment; Systematization and optimization of construction processes; minimization of construction costs in the short and long term;
  • Digitalisation and documentation, data bases, past interventions, adaptation to new legislation for built environment;
  • New methodologies, digital and innovative technologies, building information modelling (BIM), geo-referenced information systems (GIS).

Prof. Dr. Pedro Delgado
Prof. Dr. Joana Maia de Oliveira Almeida
Dr. Romeu da Silva Vicente
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • civil and environmental engineering
  • buildings and constructions sustainability
  • building inspection and maintenance
  • risk mitigation in structures and infrastructures
  • life-cycle analysis
  • buildings and bridges assessment
  • rehabilitation and strengthening

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3586 KiB  
Article
Expressions of Arab Influence on the Brazilian Architecture: The Case of Solar Control Elements
by Egon Vettorazzi, Filipe Rebelo, António Figueiredo, Romeu Vicente, Marcelo Langner and Gabriel Feiertag
Buildings 2024, 14(1), 194; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14010194 - 12 Jan 2024
Viewed by 783
Abstract
Over the centuries, architects have distanced themselves from the accumulated architectural knowledge, which often provided constructive solutions highly connected to the climatic context and cultural characteristics. With utmost expression from the 20th century on, building designers have assumed a somewhat negligent attitude towards [...] Read more.
Over the centuries, architects have distanced themselves from the accumulated architectural knowledge, which often provided constructive solutions highly connected to the climatic context and cultural characteristics. With utmost expression from the 20th century on, building designers have assumed a somewhat negligent attitude towards the architectural project, essentially relying on active mechanical systems, to achieve indoor environmental comfort conditions. This paper overviews the current knowledge of solar control elements adopted and developed by Brazilian architecture, tracing its origin to the influence of Arab and Moorish architecture, with the objective of valuing passive solutions. Arab influence in Brazilian architecture began in the 17th century when Portuguese settlers felt the need to adapt the colonial buildings to the climatic constraints, particularly with regard to excessive solar radiation, leading to indoor thermal discomfort and excess natural light. Arab influence in Brazilian architecture remains present until the current day with the same objectives; however, it has been reinterpreted and appropriated by the Brazilian architectural school. Among the most used construction elements during the colonial period were the muxarabis, rótulas, and gelosias. Throughout the 20th century, these elements were culturally appropriated and served as inspiration for the development of the cobogó and the pioneering use of brise-soleis in Brazilian architecture. These elements have spread throughout global architecture, accompanied by the adoption of computer-controlled dynamic solar protection systems. Therefore, it is important to promote traditional solutions and encourage new architects to adopt passive approaches, aiming for energy efficiency and reducing environmental impacts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Built Environments and Environmental Buildings)
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25 pages, 5352 KiB  
Article
Post-Occupancy Evaluation of Brownfield Reuse Based on Sustainable Development: The Case of Beijing Shougang Park
by Shaojie Wang, Wei Duan and Xiaodong Zheng
Buildings 2023, 13(9), 2275; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13092275 - 07 Sep 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1286
Abstract
Industrial heritage parks, an effective form of urban brownfield reuse, effectively mitigate pollution, improve the human living environment, and achieve sustainable development; industrial heritage parks, which add blue and green space to a city, also play an important role in presenting urban history [...] Read more.
Industrial heritage parks, an effective form of urban brownfield reuse, effectively mitigate pollution, improve the human living environment, and achieve sustainable development; industrial heritage parks, which add blue and green space to a city, also play an important role in presenting urban history and culture, promoting regional economic growth, and achieving human well-being. Exploring the user behavior use of industrial heritage parks and conducting post-occupancy evaluation of projects based on subjective human perceptions from the users’ perspective can contribute to improve the sustainable management, maintenance, and design of projects in the future. However, previous studies on post-occupancy evaluation have not been sufficiently studied for urban industrial heritage parks. This study takes Beijing Shougang Park, a representative industrial heritage park in China, as the research object, and distributes and collects nearly 150 questionnaires about user behavior and four significant evaluation items after the preliminary field research, analyzes the importance and satisfaction evaluation of the park design elements (place characteristics, natural environment characteristics, usability characteristics, and management characteristics), and uses a frequency analysis, an IPA analysis, an independent t-test, an analysis of variance, and a multiple regression analysis, and other methods are used, to quantitatively analyze the content of the questionnaire. The results of the study include the following: (1) The park is mainly used by people in their twenties to thirties and forties, and the usage rate of the sports plaza, which is the main facility, is the highest, while the usage rate of the renovation facility, the machine room, is the lowest. (2) While Shougang Park users were more satisfied with the natural environment features, Shougang Park users were found to be relatively less satisfied with the place and usability features. (3) The natural environment characteristics of Shougang Park had a positive effect on both overall satisfaction and recommendation intention. Finally, based on the questions and suggestions from users, a park renewal optimization strategy is proposed, hoping to provide suggestions for the renovation and design of similar industrial heritage parks in Chinese cities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Built Environments and Environmental Buildings)
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19 pages, 15525 KiB  
Article
Damage Assessment of Pine Wood Facades in the First Years of Service for Sustainable Maintenance
by Joana Oliveira Almeida, Pedro Delgado, António Labrincha, Helena Parauta and Bruno Lima
Buildings 2023, 13(8), 1883; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13081883 - 25 Jul 2023
Viewed by 863
Abstract
The importance of the sustainability of wood buildings is increasing. The renewed attention highlights the need to assess the wood deterioration accurately, in the initial years of service, to optimize treatment during its lifetime and reduce maintenance costs. This study presents a methodology [...] Read more.
The importance of the sustainability of wood buildings is increasing. The renewed attention highlights the need to assess the wood deterioration accurately, in the initial years of service, to optimize treatment during its lifetime and reduce maintenance costs. This study presents a methodology for inspecting and classifying damage of wood in service, relying on visual inspection and oriented to non-structural wooden components. This approach enables more affordable, widespread, and frequent monitoring of wooden elements in use, promoting their routine maintenance. The methodology was tested in the pine wood (Pinus sylvestris) facades with up to 5 years of service in a hotel building in northern Portugal. Despite its relatively brief period of operation, the building displays indications of both abiotic and biotic degradation of the wood across all its different facade orientations. Based on that, the study highlights the natural aging of Scots pine according to the building’s age, orientation, maintenance treatments, and exposure conditions. These findings provide insights into conservation plan optimization and emphasize the need for regular maintenance of wooden elements in outdoor environments, even in the early years of service. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Built Environments and Environmental Buildings)
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