The Systemic Design Approach Applied to the Analysis of Buildings: Comparison between Two Paradigmatic Case Studies in Italy and Sweden

The purpose of the paper is to remark the role of the systemic approach for obtaining a complete understanding of buildings and their impacts in term of consumption and waste production. This multidisciplinary research is inspired by Systemic Design approach and Urban Metabolism theory and furthermore considers the building as a flow pump guided by habits and needs of users and depending on the local management. The study shows the analysis of two case studies considered as paradigmatic examples of sustainable architecture: the former is the first skyscraper in Turin, Italy, and the latter is the first sustainable district in Stockholm, Sweden. Through the analysis of detailed engineering documents, authors have made graphical schemas that show flows, exchanges and links between buildings and their surroundings. The presented schemas afford a better comprehension of all material and energy inflows and outflows involved in buildings’ daily life and could be used to easily check the application of the principles of the Systemic Design approach.