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Sustainability in Architecture, Planning, and Design: Papers from the BEYOND ALL LIMITS 2022 Conference

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Building".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 11658

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Architecture and Industrial Design, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 81031 Aversa, Italy
Interests: building physics; building energy systems; energy efficiency; integrated solutions for daylight and electric lighting; smart window, building façades
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XQ, UK
Interests: building performance; simulation; monitoring; architectural engineering

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Guest Editor
Department of Architecture, Çankaya University, 06790 Etimesgut/Ankara, Turkey
Interests: sustainability; occupant behavior; energy-efficient design

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Guest Editor
Department of Architecture and Industrial Design, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via San Lorenzo ad Septimum, 81031 Aversa, Italy
Interests: sustainable development; appraisal and evaluation; urban and environmental economics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Architecture and Industrial Design, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Viale Abramo Lincoln, 5, 81100 Caserta CE, Italy
Interests: structural engineering; seismic design; seismic vulnerability of existing churches; metal shear walls; aluminium structures; seismic retrofitting of existing structures; bridge engineering

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

One of the main issues of the coming decades has been sustainability intended in its largest extent and leading to the “awareness of one’s role in a world where resources are finite and the negative effects generated by human activities risk being irreversible”; in this framework, the second edition of the BEYOND ALL LIMITS conference (BAL 2022) aims to tackle the sustainability matter, placing it in the current international debate marked by the many-sided response to the pandemic.

The conference follows the milestones of the New European Bauhaus (NEB), with a co-creation space where architects, artists, students, engineers and designers work together towards the objectives of the European Green Deal with a human being design-centered approach.

This Special Issue aims to provide an important scientific and multidisciplinary contribution by presenting the state-of-the-art and recent developments regarding architecture, planning, design, energy efficiency, novel building technologies and sustainability according to the New European Bauhaus initiative, hopefully allowing us to be able to improve the beauty, sustainability and inclusion of places looking beyond the limits of current knowledge.

The Special Issue welcomes BAL 2022 papers and other original research articles, including (but not limited to) the following research areas and topics:

  • Beautiful, sustainable and inclusive places: the role of appraisal and evaluation;
  • Structural engineering;
  • Occupants and their interaction with the built environment related to multisensorial and indoor environmental quality;
  • High-performance components and buildings;
  • Design for sustainable and safe communities.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Sergio Sibilio
Prof. Dr. Pieter De Wilde
Dr. Timuçin Harputlugil
Dr. Fabiana Forte
Prof. Dr. Gianfranco De Matteis
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • architecture
  • planning
  • design
  • sustainability
  • environment
  • energy
  • building
  • communities
  • structural engineering
  • appraisal and evaluation

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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37 pages, 7521 KiB  
Article
Innovative Energy-Efficient Prefabricated Movable Buildings for Smart/Co-Working: Performance Assessment upon Varying Building Configurations
by Luigi Maffei, Antonio Ciervo, Achille Perrotta, Massimiliano Masullo and Antonio Rosato
Sustainability 2023, 15(12), 9581; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129581 - 14 Jun 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1391
Abstract
Worldwide, smart/co-working spaces are growing significantly, and prefabricated movable buildings for such an application could (i) save energy, CO2 emissions, and costs; (ii) enhance the worker’s perceived sense of surroundings; and (iii) support the rebirth of small villages with high regenerative potential. [...] Read more.
Worldwide, smart/co-working spaces are growing significantly, and prefabricated movable buildings for such an application could (i) save energy, CO2 emissions, and costs; (ii) enhance the worker’s perceived sense of surroundings; and (iii) support the rebirth of small villages with high regenerative potential. Innovative prefabricated movable building configurations to be used as an office for smart/co-working by a maximum of 6 persons have been designed and analyzed based on simulation data. In particular, 10 case studies corresponding to building configurations differing in terms of innovative energy-efficient measures related to the building envelope (smart windows operated under various control logics) and the energy systems serving the building (photovoltaic panels, small wind turbines, and electric storages) have been modeled and simulated by applying detailed dynamic simulation models via the simulation software TRNSYS. The performance of the 10 case studies has been compared from energy, environmental, and economic points of view with respect to a baseline system characterized by conventional building envelope and energy systems, with the aim of assessing the proposed measures and identifying the most efficient configuration. The simulation results highlighted that: (i) all the proposed alternative configurations allow to save primary energy (from 10.3% up to 100%), equivalent CO2 emissions(from 10.3% up to 100%), and operating costs (from 8.5% up to 100%) with respect to the baseline building; (ii) the building configurations including the smart windows only are not economically feasible in terms of simple pay-back (SPB) period, while the building configurations equipped with photovoltaic panels and/or electric storages and/or wind turbine represent a suitable investment thanks to an SPB lower than 15.2 years; (iii) a stand-alone building configuration for smart/co-working with energy demands totally covered by means of renewable sources can be obtained by combining smart windows, photovoltaic panels, electric storages and wind turbine. Full article
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24 pages, 6399 KiB  
Article
Creation of a New Vernacular Architecture and the Attainment of Sustainability: The Case of Akyaka Town Development
by Zeynep Cigdem Uysal Urey
Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2643; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032643 - 01 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2048
Abstract
This study problematizes a case where the interpretation of local architectural types by a designer forms a new vernacular architecture that shapes the sphere of a newly developing small town towards one that became sustainable. The house built by Nail Cakirhan for himself [...] Read more.
This study problematizes a case where the interpretation of local architectural types by a designer forms a new vernacular architecture that shapes the sphere of a newly developing small town towards one that became sustainable. The house built by Nail Cakirhan for himself in Akyaka (Turkey) opens up a new future in front of the small village of then, towards becoming a touristic center with a specific architectural language of its own. Cakirhan designs his house by interpreting the traditional houses of his hometown, Ula, which is only a few kilometers away from the village of Akyaka. The design of the house initiates the formation of a unique architectural language for Akyaka, which gradually evolves into a new vernacular architecture. Since then, this invented architectural tradition has both transformed the village into a popular touristic town and also initiated a sustainable approach due to its sensitivity for the cultural and natural assets of the context. This architectural language is protected by the master development plan now, and the town is declared as a ‘slow-city’ due to its culturally and environmentally sensitive character. In order to portray this development, this study will first examine Cakirhan’s house in relation to its referential and actual contexts, then it will observe the development of the town of Akyaka by means of looking at Cakirhan architecture in Akyaka, the master development plan of Akyaka that protects the architectural language, and the development of the town as a sustainable, slow-city. The portrayal of the architectural development of Akyaka could demonstrate how a fairly recent architectural practice can today result in the development of a sustainable and harmonious architectural environment. Full article
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15 pages, 5519 KiB  
Article
Urban Park Lighting Quality Perception: An Immersive Virtual Reality Experiment
by Massimiliano Masullo, Federico Cioffi, Jian Li, Luigi Maffei, Giovanni Ciampi, Sergio Sibilio and Michelangelo Scorpio
Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 2069; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15032069 - 21 Jan 2023
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2033
Abstract
Green areas and parks are increasingly important in improving citizens’ physical and mental recovery. Lighting systems play a considerable role in affecting city park life and activities along with people’s moods and behavior in the evening and at night. Immersive virtual reality laboratory [...] Read more.
Green areas and parks are increasingly important in improving citizens’ physical and mental recovery. Lighting systems play a considerable role in affecting city park life and activities along with people’s moods and behavior in the evening and at night. Immersive virtual reality laboratory experiments may support urban and lighting research by providing information on the combination of lighting setup and visual context of existing or new urban parks. Gaze behaviors obtained from eye-tracking recordings and self-reported measurements using the perceived outdoor lighting quality questionnaire were used to determine the factors affecting human perception, comfort, and cognitive load, as the overall illuminance levels of the scene and correlated color temperature changes. Results pointed out that overall illuminance level and CCT significantly affect the perceived strength and comfort qualities of lighting with a dominance of the first compared with the latter when subjects were free to explore the lit environment. Low CCT and intermediate or high overall illuminance levels can improve the sense of accessibility as well as minimize the cognitive load. Full article
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Review

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25 pages, 2251 KiB  
Review
A Review of Subjective Assessments in Virtual Reality for Lighting Research
by Michelangelo Scorpio, Davide Carleo, Martina Gargiulo, Pilar Chías Navarro, Yorgos Spanodimitriou, Parinaz Sabet, Massimiliano Masullo and Giovanni Ciampi
Sustainability 2023, 15(9), 7491; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15097491 - 03 May 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1943
Abstract
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 [...] Read more.
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. Full article
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Other

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16 pages, 963 KiB  
Systematic Review
A Systematic Literature Review of Architecture Fostering Green Mindfulness
by Chaniporn Thampanichwat, Chumporn Moorapun, Suphat Bunyarittikit, Phattranis Suphavarophas and Prima Phaibulputhipong
Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 3823; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15043823 - 20 Feb 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2925
Abstract
Green mindfulness seems to play an important role in promoting sustainability in architecture, but discrete areas of knowledge are still widely unknown. This study aimed to explore the publications that exist on the nexus between green mindfulness and architecture, and to find the [...] Read more.
Green mindfulness seems to play an important role in promoting sustainability in architecture, but discrete areas of knowledge are still widely unknown. This study aimed to explore the publications that exist on the nexus between green mindfulness and architecture, and to find the architectural features that tend to foster green mindfulness. The study conducted a systematic literature review by searching publications from databases including Scopus, Google Scholar, and Thai Journals Online in September 2022. Five authors—one architectural researcher, two architectural professors, and two architects—independently reviewed the full-length articles to confirm their accuracy and objectivity. Eight articles were selected for examination by descriptive analysis showing the publication year, source, and citations of the articles. Thematic analysis was used to find the characteristics of the architectural atmosphere with the potential for fostering green mindfulness. Finally, only one study was found that was truly concerned with architecture and green mindfulness. This publication showed that mass and volume are associated with biophilic design, fascination with biophilic design, and affiliation with biophilic design. Material and object refer to natural material; light is in reference to natural light; and landscape and viewpoint suggest plants, greenery, and natural views, while details regarding color and sound were not explored. Full article
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