BUILDING COMPONENTS DESIGN Single channel
Chair (Coordinator) and Rapporteur: Antonio Fioravanti
Lecturers
Objectives
Provide students with the basic knowledge to analyse, classify and design the construction elements that define a building organism so that they contribute as a whole to its constitution. So they are, not only consistent with the identification and connotation of spaces, the comfort requirements and those to ensure static safety, but also with the construction activity, its actors, and sustainability
Learning outcomes
Dublin Descriptor 1
By the end of the course, students will be able to recognise, compare, analyse, and design various basic building components, such as external walls, floors, beams, and air conditioning systems.
Dublin Descriptor 2
Furthermore, through the exercises completed during the course, students will apply their acquired knowledge to analyse and define two types of external walls, while also considering condensation issues in light of Italian regulations.
Dublin Descriptor 3
Students will acquire knowledge, critical thinking, and judgement skills through a short, approximately 15-page essay in English on an innovative building component or material, considering its pros and cons. Its concrete applications in building construction examples will also be examined, including simple assessments of architectural quality.
Dublin Descriptor 4
Through the exercises and the essay, both undertaken in the teacher's presence, students will enhance their communication skills and articulate – in written and oral formats – their acquired knowledge through sketches, graphs, and dialogues with the teacher.
Dublin Descriptor 5
In the end of the course, students will have developed a curiosity, which has become a habit, to expand their knowledge of the subject by exploring new knowledge through the essay on innovative materials, visiting websites on topics related to the subject and related aspects such as biomimicry, new sustainable cities, and illustrating important books available on the course's Moodle platform. All of these activities involve exploring content complementary to the course itself, which in turn develops a habit of expanding one's knowledge throughout life.
Prerequisites
The "Building Component Design" course is an optional course for the "Sustainable Building Engineering L-23" degree programme, taught in the second semester of the second year. Therefore, to successfully follow the course and the exercises, it is essential to have knowledge of the basic sciences and techniques of civil engineering (mathematical analysis, geometry, materials technology, and physics) as well as the elementary aspects of architecture (architectural drawing, environment, and elements of architectural history). To understand and critically and creatively apply the course knowledge, it is very helpful to have mastered the knowledge taught in the first semester of the second year regarding architectural space, hydraulics, and structural mechanics.
Therefore, students must have passed the first-year exams with full knowledge and merit, such as: "Analysis I and II," "Descriptive Geometry and Architectural Drawing with Elements of Architectural History," "Materials Technology for Sustainable Building," "Physics," "Environment and Health," and "Geometry." To facilitate understanding the lessons, it is advisable to have successfully attended (even without passing the exam) the courses “Hydraulics”, “Structural Mechanics”, and “Building Design For Sustainable Architecture-Architectural Design” (first semester).
Programme
The lessons, lasting 60 hours, are divided into the following two parts, which often intertwine and alternate throughout the year.
In the theoretical part - about 30 hours - the problematic relationships between Building, Building Components and Context are examined. The latter is understood from an orographic or climatological perspective and also technological, urban, cultural and sustainability points of view. This relationship will be taught through examples of significant works of contemporary architecture highlighting the links between the technological solutions, the architectural language, the volumetric system and the technological, cultural and environmental Context.
The central body of the teaching concerns the criteria and methods for the definition and evaluation of the constitutive characteristics of the Building Components (building subsystems and construction elements) of the Building Organism, considered as a "complex system".
The Building Components are related to three fundamental purposes: the Constructability, the Safety of the building and its use; the Well-being of the user and the Sustainability. These aspects relate both to the users of these environments and a wider social context by addressing social responsibility issues such as environmental sustainability.
In addition to illustrating technical solutions to contemporary design themes, the teaching focuses on identifying criteria that can direct you towards "appropriate" and "sustainable" design solutions.
The application of these criteria is first of all reflected in the Building Component design and evaluation based on the context and objectives of the project, the motivated choices of adequate implementation methods are made that express correctly the formal, functional and technical contents of the Building Organism.
The lessons are integrated with the Exercises activities, for a total of 30 hours, in which the preliminary, definitive and executive design of Building Components (construction details) are developed, to be carried out in the classroom according to a program defined annually.
Books
Some books, or significant parts of them, are available on the course's Moodle site.
Mandolesi E. 1978. Edilizia I, Utet.
Allen E. and Iano J. 2017. The Architect's Studio Companion: Rules of Thumb for Preliminary Design, Wiley. ISBN 10: 1119092418 / ISBN 13: 9781119092414.
Allen E. and Iano J. 2019. Fundamentals of Building Construction: Materials and Methods (7th Edition), John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 1119446198, 9781119446194.
Allen E. 2016. Architectural Detailing: Function, Constructability, Aesthetics, 3rd Edition, Wiley. ISBN-13: 978-1118881996 / ISBN-10: 1118881990.
Allen E. and Iano J. 2013. Exercises in Building Construction, 6th Edition, Wiley. ISBN-13: 978-1118653289 / ISBN-10: 1118653289.
MacDonald, A.J. 2001. Structure and Architecture, Architectural Press, 2nd Ed.
MacDonald, A.J. 2019.Structure and Architecture, Routledge, 3rd Ed.
Kibert C.J., 2016. Sustainable Construction: Green Building Design and Delivery 4th Edition, Wiley.
Salvadori, M. 2002. Why Buildings Stand Up: The Strength of Architecture, W.W. Norton Company, Inc.
https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Home
Teacher's Lesson Notes
During the year, the didactical materials useful for teaching "BUILDING COMPONENTS DESIGN" will be available on Sapienza's e-learning website (Moodle).
Among which, the following educational materials in.pdf format regarding:
- slides presented in the lessons, in the tutorial and studio workshops, in the practical exercises;
- architectural and building examples;
- pictures of construction site visits;
- the framing material of the Essays on a construction component or on an innovative material for sustainability;
- exam pattern and a list of the main exam questions.
Bibliography
Allen E., Zalewski W., Foxe D.M. 2009. Form and Forces: Designing Efficient, Expressive Structures, Wiley.
Ching F. D. K. and Winkel S. R. 2018. Building Codes Illustrated: A Guide to Understanding the 2018 International Building Code, Wiley. ISBN 10: 1119480353 / ISBN 13: 9781119480358.
DeKay M., 2011. Integral Sustainable Design: Transformative Perspectives, 1st Edition, Routledge. ISBN-13: 978-1849713122 / ISBN-10: 184971312X
Kibert C.J., 2016. Sustainable Construction: Green Building Design and Delivery 4th Edition, Wiley. ISBN-13: 978-1119055174 / ISBN-10: 1119055172.
Italian Codes - GU 20 January 2018: DM Infrastructure and Transport, 17 January 2018, Update of “Building technical codes for constructions”.
Websites:
www.theB1m.com
https://www.facebook.com/TheB1M
www.Archiportale.it
www.Edilportale.it
https://www.mapei.com/
Lessons mode
The ex-cathedra teaching – approximately 40 hours – is structured into two distinct blocks: 1) theory lessons on the design of architectural and construction components; 2) participation in specific applied seminars.
The practical exercises – approximately 20 hours long – are developed by the student with the guidance of the instructor and tutor, in which they study construction components from a sustainability perspective and develop a critical essay on an innovative material or construction component for sustainability.
Frequency
Student signatures are not required during the Tutorials and Workshops to certify their presence.
Exam mode
The exam grade is an average of the evaluations of the exercises and graphic designs of building components developed during the year (20%), the oral exam consisting of questions on the syllabus (60%), and a critical essay on innovative sustainable construction materials or components (20%). Each of the three parts of the exam must achieve at least a passing grade (grade 18).
A detailed description of the exam structure and administration is available on the course's Moodle website.
To pass the exam, a grade of at least 18/30 is required.
Students must demonstrate sufficient knowledge of all the topics covered during the semester; a good ability to communicate the concepts learned; a good understanding of the basic topics of traditional and innovative architectural envelope design, structural components, and environmental well-being; and must have completed the exercises and the critical essay – grade 18-25.
If the student is able to independently develop these building components and critically evaluate them, he or she will have developed a good ability to apply the knowledge learned, the exercises will be completed impeccably, and the critical essay will demonstrate a full understanding of the utility and validity of the chosen innovative building component – grade of 26-30.
To achieve a score of 30 or 30 cum laude, the student must demonstrate excellent knowledge of all the topics covered in the course, including the wall exercises and the critical essay, the ability to describe and analyse them autonomously, and the ability to propose valid alternatives during the exam.
Example exam questions
Building applied thermal sciences.
Heat transfer – Conduction, Convection, Irradiation; surface
Thermal resistance Conductivity/resistivity, thickness (continuous material); abduction (steady air); reflectance/absorption (void).
Water vapour, RH%, Condensation, Dew point.
Solar energy – Sunray solar energy frequency distribution
Solar energy and orientations
Solar Energy: Direct, Diffusive, and Albedo Fractions.
Vapour passage resistance coefficient
Glaser diagram
Thermal storage
Enclosures
Wall conductance - U.
Thin plaster insulation techniques
Ventilated façades
Ventilated façade supports in aluminium or steel
DSFs definition, what are, techniques, construction, performance regarding sustainability
Adobe wall, raw earth blocks, Sana’a buildings
MIT’s houses
Trombe’s Wall,
Trombe’s wall – functioning at day and night hours
Trombe’s wall – functioning in winter and summer months
Dimensioning Trombe’s walls.
Trombe’s walls and climates
Barra-Costantini’s buildings,
Kellbouth’s house – glasshouse
Envelop evolution and energy costs/crises
Difference between DSFs and Ventilated Façades. Pros and Cons
A comparison of Roof Gardens and Green Roofs.
Structures
Type of Joints from a Structural point of view
Types of Beams
• Materials: cement concrete, wood (GLT, ), steel, pre-stressed, composite
Normal profiles in Steel.
Instability/Buckling.
Support types in beams
• Supports fixed (clamp), hinged, pinned, roller, and hanged (suspended).
Elementary and complex structural principles
Truss beams.
• Generality: definition(s) and two distinct groups
• Ideal structural behaviour
• Triangular truss beams
• Quadrangular truss (Vierendeel) beams
• Planar truss beams.
• Space (3D) truss beams.
• Planar truss vs. 3D truss beams
Beam shapes:
• Sections, Profiles (Normal profile, custom, …)
• Axes: straight, curved, tapered.
Thermal plants.
PV panels
Thermal panels.
AC facilities.
Thermal power for heating a building.
Building energy balance.
Arguments
- An introduction of the Design Process and the architectural design. Review of main physical units. 1 lesson.
- Sustainability of Building Systems and the Built Environment. 1 lesson.
- Basic elements of applied thermal physics for building façades, heat transfer, Glaser diagram. 1 lesson,
- History of building envelops. Walls, Envelopes and Façades. 3 lessons.
- Constructive and building details. 1 lesson.
- Basic elements of load-bearing structures: pillars, beams, Trussbeams, slabs. Construction details. 1 lesson.
- Air Conditioning systems. 2 lessons.
Sustainability goals
- Academic year2026/2027
- Degree program to which the course belongsSustainable Building Engineering (Rieti Campus)
- Lesson code10589468
- Year and semester2nd year - 2nd semester
- Activity typeAttività formative affini ed integrative
- Academic areaAttività formative affini o integrative
- SSDICAR/10
- Mandatory presenceNo
- LanguageENG
- CFU6 CFU
- Total duration60 hours
- Hours distribution60 classroom hours