Material saving and building component efficiency as main eco-design principles for membrane architecture: case - studies of ETFE enclosures

ABSTRACT

Compared to the traditional materials, textile membrane and foil structural enclosures use minimal quantity of materials to cover spaces or close façades, thanks especially to their tensioning ability, by shaping themselves to the forces ways, with a few additional stiffening components. However the environmental compatibility, due to their actual fossil fuel origin, together with the thermal, optical, and acoustic performances are crucial factors to be verified during the design phase. The need of understanding their potentials and limits in terms of eco-efficiency is on the debate. Starting from these concepts, the aim of the research is to demonstrate the advantages of the Life Cycle Design strategy answering to the environmental sustainability of membrane building components.The authors found out two eco-efficiency principles for the application of membranes and foils, orienting the designers towards a more sustainable whole life spanned lightweight technology’s choice. The main advancement of this research is presented adding new ETFE membranes case studies to the initial analysis (Monticelli, Zanelli, 2016). The aim of this ex-post application of the principles on built examples is the demonstration of their validness for the designer’s need and the intention is to spread their use during the early design stage. The calculation on a wider and different use of membranes allowed to sketch benchmark reference rates. The results of the data analysis show how lightweight technologies offer a high degree of freedom in shaping geometries and forms, while only their optimized application can guarantee a sustainable and LCA effective result.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainability and comfort
• membrane architecture
• eco-efficiency principles
• life cycle analysis
• ETFE envelope
• case studies

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to demonstrate their gratiture to the collaborators of the TAN group Mariangela Centrulli, Beatrice Pratobevera, Chiara Martinelli e Giulia Resmini, for their contribution in the selection of case studies and search of the needed information. The authors wish to acknowledge the support provided by Form TL, Maffeis Engineering, Canobbio Engineering, Vector Foiltec, Taiyo Europe sharing drawings, quantities of the case studies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).