Sustainable materials and components seminar

On Thursday May 17th 2012 will be held a seminar for the students of the Project Management course of Prof. Maria Antonietta Esposito, with the support of the Italian Copper Institute and KME Group S.p.A..

BLIGHT TO MIGHT – Open International Design Competition for Transforming Cities with Innovation

“In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives. It is how we make our living.”
Barack Obama

The ONE Prize 2012 competition is powered by the idea that social, ecological, and economic struggles can simultaneously be addressed through collaborative action and innovative design. Situated in the context of a struggling U.S. economy and the tension of stagnant unemployment, ONE Prize 2012 is a call to put design in the service of the community, to reinvigorate deindustrialized and depressed urban areas, and to repurpose spaces for economic growth and job creation. It aims to explore the socially, economically, and ecologically regenerative possibilities of urban transformation and design.

Seeking architects, landscape architects, urban designers, planners, engineers, scientists, artists, students and individuals of all backgrounds:

• Can we rework the skeletons of 20th century manufacturing for 21st century innovation?
• Can former plants in Detroit become greenhouses, schools, theaters?
• Can mill towns be revamped as digital fabrication hubs?
• Can vacant parking lots become farms or parks?
• Can abandoned strip malls be reinvented?
• Can we reboot the American economy?

The ONE Prize Award is an international competition and it is open to everyone. The teams can have one or more members. The proposals can be for a real or speculative project, for one or more real sites, and located either in the U.S. or abroad, but applicable to the U.S. Further, the proposals need not be generated exclusively for this competition, provided that they address the intent of the competition.

More info can be found in the ONE prize 2012 competition website.

Campus-wide use of CES EduPack Web seminar – April 25 2012

CES EduPack is the world-leading teaching resource for materials in engineering, science, processing, and design. It provides a comprehensive database of materials and process information, powerful materials software tools, and a range of supporting textbooks, lectures, projects, and exercises. There are nine specialist editions for specific disciplines, and three levels of the database and software to suit varying needs in all years of undergraduate study and in postgraduate teaching. Many universities and colleges are using CES EduPack as a cross-disciplinary resource to support specialist teaching across departments and levels of teaching.

Student’s Project Sketchbook – Milo Agnorelli

One of the video sketchbooks made for the Project management course held by Prof. Maria Antonietta Esposito at the School of Architecture of the University of Florence.

Milo Agnorelli is a degreeing student of the School of Architecture that recently sustained the Project management exam. The video shows the concept of his redesign of Florence’s Amerigo Vespucci airport.

Passenger transit at Roma Termini central station

The Trenitalia Company may know the situation that passengers in transit by the FCO Terminal have to face every time.

Ticketing to board on the so-called Leonardo Express train connection available from the Termini central railway station it’s not easy: the ticket machine does not work (Fig.1), moreover, the Trenitalia staff at the ticket booth is not allowed to supply it (Fig.2).But they kindly address you to the hidden pathway to reach the newspapers shop which also sales the Leonardo Express tickets (Fig.3-4).

Passengers whishing to get it can often lose the run, spending a lot af time to follow the arcaic procedure that also requires to stamp the ticket before boarding (Fig.5). Train connection to FCO is available with a frequency of 20 min.

Furthermore after the boarding the situation is such as described in picture n.6.

Is this kind of transit passenger flows management meeting the needs of the contemporary global travellers market demand?

ENERGY FORUM on Solar Building Skins – 2012 edition

06-07 December 2012, Bressanone, Italy

The main objective of the conference is to contribute to a multidisciplinary, integrated planning approach among architects, engineers, scientists, energy managers and manufacturers, with the aim to reduce energy consumption while improving the comfort and health of the building’s occupants. Emphasis will be placed on the latest developments and innovations in integrated components for the building industry, in particular with regard to the use of renewable energy and multifunctional building elements.

Simultaneous translations into Italian and English will be available for all presentations.

Topics of he 7^th ENERGY FORUM on Solar Building Skins:

• Multifunctional Building Skins
  • Intelligent and Adaptive Building Skins
  • Evolving Photovoltaic and Solar Thermal Technologies and Projects
  • Enhanced Daylighting and Shading
• Performance Criteria for Building Envelopes
  • Performance Metrics
  • Life-Cycle Cost Assessment
• Holistic Concepts
  • Building Concepts and Strategies for Plus Energy Houses
  • Refurbishment Strategies for the Building Stock
  • Solar Retrofitting

Scientific Conference Committee:

• Marilyne Andersen, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
• Livio de Santoli, Faculty of Architecture, La Sapienza University, Rome
• Michael Garrison, School of Architecture, University of Texas at Austin, USA
• Hans-Martin Henning, Head of Thermal Systems and Buildings,
  Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Germany
• Helmut Hohenstein, Dr. Hohenstein Consultancy, former Director of the ift
  Rosenheim (Germany’s glass, window and façade research institute)
• Andreas Karweger, General Manager, Economic Forum, Munich – Bolzano
• Dieter Moor, Excecutive Director, Ertex-Solar, Austria
• Menghao Qin, Director, Center for Sustainable Building Research, Nanjing University, China; School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering; Queen’s University, Belfast
• Wolfram Sparber, Director, Department of Renewable Energies,
  European Academy, Bolzano, Italy
• Mitsuhiro Udagawa¸ President Japanese Solar Energy Society; Department of Architecture, Kogakuin University, Japan
• Bernhard Weller, Institute for Construction, TU Dresden, Germany
• Stephen Wittkopf, Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore
• Yigsaw Yohanis; School of the Built Environment, University of Ulster, United KingdomRegistration Fee:The cost to participate at the ENERGY FORUM is €480 which includes all conference documentation, lunches and coffee breaks.

  All the info is avaible on the official site of the Energy Forum

Green Building – lectio magistralis by Prof. Denise Daniele Akason

On March 5th 2012 Prof. Denise Daniele Akason (Associate Director – Real Estate Program – Kellogg School of Management Northwestern University) held a lesson on Green Building for the students of Prof. Maria Antonietta Esposito’s Project Management course.

The lecture related to the Key concepts of:

• Government incentives and environmental building standards
• Green commercial development
• Retrofitting and Financing

Student’s Project Sketchbook – Justin Linton Campolucci

One of the video sketchbooks made for the Project management course held by Prof. Maria Antonietta Esposito at the School of Architecture of the University of Florence.

Justin Linton Campolucci is a degreeing student of the School of Architecture that recently applied to enter the TxP Workgroup. The video shows the concept of his redesign of Pisa’s Galileo Galilei Airport.

Take off of the indian flight industry

Do not be surprised if landing in a medium sized indian town from Europe you are greeted by an avant-garde airport. India is taking big steps forward in all the areas, and this is particularly evident in the flight industry. For example the project for the Rajiv Gandhi airport of Hyderabad (HYD) started in 2005, and has been inaugurated by Sonia Gandhi on March 14th 2008.

The airport has 12 loading bridges, 30 remote stands, CUTE (Common User Terminal Equipment) gear, self check-in stands (CUSS), 46 immigration desks, modern IT equipment that include the FIDS (Flight Information Display Screens), Baggage handling systems (BHS) and the AOCC (Airport Operations Control Centre) for the integrated control of all airport systems. The airport has been designed by Winston Shu along with Gudmond Stokke, head of a small society specialized in airport design. The Rajiv Gandhi airport can handle 12 millions passenger every year (MPPY) and 100000 cargo tons. The project is capable of a phased expansion that can increase its capacity up to 40 MPPY.

Air terminal of the future – competition for students

Fentress Architects opened a competion regarding the air terminal of the future for students from anywhere in the world.

Between 1970 and 1980 the air terminal has transformed into a “boarding factory” and today single characteristic aspects of air travel gain the attention of planners and designers: design, technology, sustainability and air passenger comfort. These are the basic requisites for the conceptual proposals (registration by Oct 31st 2011, deadline by Dec 31st 2011).