Systemic Design approach applied to building. Analysis and comparison of international case studies.

This thesis starts from the assumption that design is becoming more and more like a platform connecting various fields of knowledge. In particular in this thesis the design discipline is adopted to investigate issues concerning buildings (from architecture to technical plants) in order to reach a minimization of resource depletion and a reduction of costs. The decision to focus this study on the built environment field is due to two main factors: the huge environmental impact which has derived from the building industry and the interest in the systemic approach demonstrated by the research sponsor Gozzo Impianti S.p.A., one of the largest building construction companies and technical plants in Piedmon, Italy. As matter of fact in developed countries greenhouse gases emissions related to the life cycle of buildings account for about 40% of the total emissions (HM Government 2011, Regeringen 2011, European Commission 2011). Furthermore, referring to the figure about the residential and tertiary electricity consumption in the EU27 countries, buildings are responsible for almost the 30% of the total consumption (European Commission 2007). To face the current environmental challenges and at the same time the economic crisis, the Gozzo Impianti S.p.A. farseeing identified as a keystone the cooperation with the department of Architecture and Design (Politecnico di Torino), research group of Systemic Design. Thanks to this collaboration, in fact, the building components are analysed in an integrated way, highlighting connections and fields of intervention so far not fully investigated. According to that, this whole thesis borrows methodologies and key concepts from the theory of the systems, with a particular focus on the Systemic Design approach (Bistagnino 2011) used as evaluation method during the entire work. The Systemic Design, from here SD, has its roots in the design field and dues its broad character to its basic principles focused on the understanding of systems, and the interactions among their components. Hence this dissertation investigates the building in an overall manner, by basing the analysis on fluxes of matter (i.e. air and water) and energy (i.e. for air conditioning and domestic hot water) that daily flow through it. Specifically the term “building” here refers to the sum of the architectural envelope and the technical plants, while the term “building system” has a wider connotation and extends the boundaries of the building to the near boundary. Thanks to that approach, the quantitative analysis of buildings impact is completed with the qualitative dimension, focusing the thesis on how buildings contribute and affect the surroundings in terms of environmental emissions. Nowadays the issue of sustainability has increasingly become an integral part of the built environment field. Indeed the purpose of the thesis is to make a breakthrough towards low emissions buildings, starting from the analysis of the “building system” and from the role and expertise proper of the professionals involved in the entire process. The doctoral study starts from the following research-questions: 1. How should relationships between building and technical plants evolve to face the challenges of sustainability? 2. How can the minimization of resource depletion be reached according to the reduction of consumption? 3. How should a construction and technical plant company change its team and activity to face environmental issues, according to the current economic crisis? In order to answer to these questions, this dissertation connects that knowledge proper of the architectural realm (particularly with regard to the building envelope) with that of the engineering field (particularly about the study of the technical plants in the building) to highlight common features by using essential and direct communication language oriented to all the stakeholders of the process. Central core of this treatise is the case history, analysed through standard tool of environmental evaluation (e.g. CO2 emissions, and building footprint) and instruments created ad hoc (e.g. the Energy to Solar Radiation Index, ESRI, factor, and the output/input traceability). For instance the creation of essential models that communicate the function of the building and its components makes it possible to assess the building environmental impact, and to facilitate the comparison among different typologies of buildings. These models address the need of bringing different skills together towards a common goal that includes the environmental elements in the design of the building and moreover considers it as an “overall system”. In its final part, the thesis re-elaborates the considerations arose from the case study analysis and suggests a proposal of building adaptable to different contexts. Moreover, the systemic and wider character of the study sets out the basis for the acquisition of a new awareness based on collaboration and integration among elements and actors of the system, aiming to the suggestion of a platform that connects actors and technical solutions towards the reduction of building emissions. Eventually the overarching purpose is the definition of a new multidisciplinary design group applicable on behalf of the companies involved in the constructive process. Through the application of a systems oriented perspective, the current definition of sustainability in architecture, which tends to focus on energy efficiency, is finally overtaken in favour of a vision of the building as a “living organism” that includes the use of passive solutions, comfort and health of the inhabitants, energy conservation, cooperation among actors involved in the process and connections with the surrounding. Overall this illustrated and structured dissertation applies the systemic approach to the “building system”, recommending a configuration of the construction company as a platform and hub for collecting all the actors involved in the building process, and allowing a virtuous dialogue and exchange among them.