See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/361364186

FUNDAMENTALS OF INTEGRATED BUILDING DESIGN

Research · June 2022

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.28093.54249

CITATIONS READS

0 1,548

4 authors, including:

Alessandra Barbieri Francisca Tapia

Politecnico di Milano University of Pecs
4 PUBLICATIONS 14 CITATIONS 6 PUBLICATIONS 18 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Francisca Tapia on 17 June 2022.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 FUNDAMENTALS OF INTEGRATED BUILDING DESIGN

Alessandra Barbieri - Agustín J. Cuozzo - Buse Katana – Deniz Gursu – Juan S. Burgos - Maria Francisca Tapia

Politecnico di Milano
Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32,
20133, Milano, Italy

Abstract: The Integrated Building Design is a process that provides comfort; lower operating costs and environmental benefits.
It is a complex key strategy that develops the architectural, structural and envelope system for sustainable buildings. To identify
the integrated building strategies is necessary to analyze the social, surrounding and environmental resources for an efficient
design in an urban context. The aim of this study is to recognize the strengths of the project through its functions and benefits to
the city and understand the environmental factors to reach a sustainable design. For this design, it was imperative to recognize
what had been lost in the process in the metropolitan expansion and how the natural landscapes could be incorporated back
into the site. With this in mind, and guided by LEED standards, unique green strategies such as an optimized building mass, a
vegetated roof (green roof), green façade, and smart lighting techniques were analyzed and implemented in a proposed building
for the Doria area of Milan.

Keywords: green façade, rope systems, zero energy building, energy analysis, daylighting, integrated building design.

1. Introduction Furthermore, the vehicular main intersections in front of the

The city of Milan is one of the most important cities of Italy. building, turns the context into a gray platform. The private
This is due to a combination of many factors, such as vehicles develop a considerable traffic flow in the zone, not
history, culture and economy; factors that enrich this city allowing public comfort for pedestrians. The main streets in
making it one of the most interesting places in the world. In the zone are Corso Buenos Aires, Viale Brianza, Abruzzi
addition to this, it has had a long history of construction and and Monza. The area is characterized by good public
revitalizations. Now in its third millennia, Milan continues transportation connection, but on the other hand, the public
to push its profound taste in architecture with sustainable, bicycle system is insufficient for users.
contemporary designs, intended to enhance the lives of its
people. For this design, it was imperative to recognize what
had been lost in the process in the metropolitan expansion
and how the natural landscapes could be incorporated back
into the site.
The case studied is located in the area of Loreto Metro
Station. This area constitutes an important spot in the city,
in its dynamics and structure. Its thriving business and
commercial center lack of green spaces, which has led to a
sustainable, mixed-use program of retail, office, and hotel
space. This organization specifically targets the abundance
of new businessmen, tourists and residents as the main
clients. An initial visit has identified several obstacles that
impose boundary conditions to the project that must be
considered in the overall design.
It is important to consider different sustainable strategies,
which aim to make the building as much, as possible, a
Figure 1: Project Site – Av. Loreto (Google Maps 2018)
Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB), based on the LEED
Certification.
In addition, the plot of the facades of the buildings is similar
with respect to the windows and balconies. Considering
2. Content Site Background
this, the project intends to maintain the facade rhythm and
2.1. Site analysis
characteristics. The main use of the area during the day is
Certain characteristics of the surrounding area have been
commercial and administrative. Due to the minimal light
analyzed; leading the project to complement the urban
design, the project tries to improve the visual quality of the
needs of the sector and consider which strategies should be
zone, by a proper integrated design for the occupants. It is
applied to achieve the goal. First of all, the green and public
important to contemplate the noise pollution in the area.
areas were analyzed, to define the function of the common
During working hours, there is visual and auditory pollution
spaces in the surroundings. In front of the building, is in
due to the high traffic density and the commercial activity.
sight a small green empty area without public use. For this
Finally, these analyses contribute for the decision process,
reason, it is important to integrate green solutions to the
to understand the area and considerate different techniques
design.
for an integrated building, which generate benefits for the
users and the surroundings.
3. Project Description The public can access the ground floor to use the
For an efficient integrated design, the building into three commercial area, the terrace of the first floor, which can be
categories to specify the activities and functions of the reached with the stair placed in the open space of the ground
project. Like it is explained in figure 2. floor, and finally, the restaurant, which is reachable with the
The public zone is mainly design for social activities. The lift. For the hotel, the guests can access with the lifts with
user can socialize and connect with nature (sun/green an electronic card, so their privacy and security are
spaces) to improve indoor environment/ levels of comfort guaranteed.
of the building. This space and functions give comfort,
socialization, interface, way finding, and contact with 3.2. Building Mass Configuration
nature. For instance, the natural lighting provides an Taking into consideration the Building Mass Configuration,
adequate use of the activities. firstly it is determined that the initial schematic design
The activities for the semi-private use consist in shared focuses the building configuration in coordination with
spaces for the public and the employees. Areas such as several factors, such as the solar orientation, incorporation
meeting rooms and open offices provide the public and the of artificial vegetation and the heavy flux of traffic in the
employee the use of the floors for different activities, where Piazzale Loreto. Building form along with glazing area and
they can interact without restrictions. This division is an distribution are proven to be correlated with the amount of
invisible demarcation between public and private places. energy required to operate the building.
The private zone, on the other hand, separates corporate Extensive studies, such as the study on building forms in
activities with a flexible, high-performing work various climates have demonstrated this idea Building
environment, and the hostel rooms for business users. shape (Catalina, Virgone, & Lordache, 2011). As a result of
Finally, the design includes a private restaurant and green this, an energy analysis in SEFAIRA was performed based
terrace for both targets. The restaurant has a panoramic view on differing building shapes; the resulting building mass
of the city as well, including an outdoor space in a green was found to take the shape of an “L”. The building’s “L”
garden terrace that also collects rainwater, making it an shaped configuration is based on capturing the most natural
excellent and highly recommended space in the building. light based on the site’s orientation to the sun while also
allowing for an open green space. By using this “L” shaped
3.1. Building Overview design it is shown that the building can justifiably reduce
The building has a mixed use, divided in retail facilities, energy consumption while creating a brighter and
offices and hotel. Each floor has a cover area of 246 m2, welcoming space.
except for the ground floor and the terrace, with 478 m2 and
144 m2 respectively. The internal space distribution of the
offices is achieved taking into account the flexibility factor,
where each floor can accommodate single or multiple
companies, depending on their requirement.
The basement is used for storage, machinery, and garbage
distribution and recycling. The ground floor is divided in
two parts: the first, within 246 m2, which contains the lobby
Figure 3: Building Shape development
of the building and the core; and the second part in the back
area of the site, which contains the retail sector.
3.3. Sustainable Strategies
In order to design an integrated building and following the
LEED directives, some strategies have been used in the case
studied, considering its location, surroundings and use.
The first strategy is linked to the concept of the zone where
all the buildings have open and common spaces in the
courtyard. The public and open space of the building creates
places for people to make recreational activity and leisure.
However, the most important point of this strategy is the
green concept that integrates the commercial services with
interactive spaces.
The second strategy is related to the daylighting, the shading
system for the facades is used as a reference point. The
movable shading system and green façade are used in the
south section, which is the one that receives the most solar
radiation. This system protects the building when radiation
reaches a high level and allows an increase in the months
with low temperatures. A Sefaira model is used to assess the
energy performance and identify the most cost-effective
Figure 2: Building Function Distribution - case studied energy efficiency measures.
Another important aspect to take care of is to reduce the
water consumption, for this purpose the building has low
consumption bathrooms and sensors in all sinks, urinals and
toilets. Another important strategy is the collection of water
through green areas for subsequent use in toilets and urinals.
To conclude, in terms of indoor environmental quality,
smoking is forbidden in the building. Signage is provided
for smoking in designated areas, as well as sealants for the
interior use.

Figure 5: Configuration of Vegetation in Courtyard and Terrace- case

studied

4.1.2. Green Shading

The other green strategy is green shading system to get the
whole idea, green roof and façade strategy provide crucial
potential of lowering urban temperatures. The combination
of both green roofs and green walls can lead to a significant
reduction in temperatures inside the building and mitigate
high temperature levels outside that cause urban heat island
effect which is one of our LEED structures selected
(Islands., 2018).
Following the same ideal of incorporating the natural
environment into the design, a green facade is also exploited
to further assist in uplifting the buildings aesthetics while
providing a solution to help reduce HVAC loads. The green
façade is located on the southern side of the building façade
(Fig.6), allowing the vegetation to absorb ample natural
light while also providing a great solution to achieve
Figure 4: Sustainable Strategies
appropriate shading in the summer, while allowing natural
light in the winter. In this case, the type of plant adopted is
4. Key Issues and Solutions Hedera helix. Under the same principles of green roof
4.1. Green Technologies vegetation, the green façade also provides cooling due
4.1.1. Green Roof evapotranspiration (Bass, Berghage, Leal, & Husain, 2011).
Green roof is the first strategy, which incorporate inherently Assisted by the software Sefaira, the building model is made
a better all-around design, in comparison to other by combination of green roof with the green façade, to find
commercial designs. This is due to the fact that the energy reduction due to cooling effect caused by the
implementing the green leads the building to mitigate water vegetation.
treatment by providing rainwater detention or retention; to
increase the thermal resistance and capacitance of building
roof; provide a more durable roofing solution; attenuate
sound for associated underlying floors; reduce energy
consumption of building and heat island effect through
evapotranspiration of the planting; provide cleaner air
quality because of the vegetative interaction with the air
and finally improve quality of life by providing an attractive
and relaxing environment (Kwok & Grondzik, 2007).
In terms of providing a better outdoors space, which helps
to improve the oxygen level in the building, different kind Figure 6: Configuration of Vegetation in Facade and Terrace- case studied
of plant also act as natural filters in the building. The
vegetation is also used in terrace of first floor and courtyard 4.1.3. Achievements
(Fig. 5) as a comfort strategy that it leads to subtract carbon The aim of the green light strategy was to obtain a
dioxide from the surrounding, to reduce acoustic pollution percentage of green use in accordance with the LEED
and to cool down the temperature of the air (Greenscreen, protocol. This is referred that a vegetated roofs that covers
2017). at least 50% of the roof area. The latter was achieved in the
building.
4.2. Daylighting
“Energy saving can be done not by bringing down the Movable Shading
standard of living, but by utilizing more efficient For the movable shading system, two different
technologies to produce the similar, or higher, levels of configurations of fixed lamellas have been studied: Panel A
comfort and convenience.” (Sudan and Tiwari 2016) is characterized by lamellas oriented at 45° with respect to
Using daylight as primary light source has been widely the vertical axis and the Panel B by lamellas at 90°
recognized as an important strategy to reduce building (horizontal lamellas). Being a movable system that rotates
energy demand and enhance indoor environment quality. around its vertical axis, each panel has been analyzed in
Even the LEED protocol highlights that using a properly static mode considering three different angles of opening
daylighting design it is possible to reach good result in terms with respect to the facade: 0° (closed system), 45° (semi-
of sustainable building. opened system), 90° (opened system).
Energy consumption for artificial lighting in buildings is
about 18% of the total electricity generated (Hua, Oswald
and Yang 2011). The use of high-performance lights and
introducing sophisticated controls may not be enough to
resolve the problem of the electric energy consumption.
Exploiting properly the daylight, instead, involves an
improvement of the building performance not only in the
indoor visual quality but also in terms of thermal comfort.
The natural light implies solar gain useful in the cold season
in order to reduce the heating demand; during the hot
seasons; instead, it should be better to avoid this kind of
gain. The performance of HVAC systems and shading
devices, based on advanced strategies, can improve energy
efficiency by minimizing heating and cooling loads, electric
lighting consumption, and assuring visual and thermal
users’ comfort.

4.2.1. Shading Systems

The office buildings, where the use of glass on the facade is
more than a residential one, need a more accurate design
because it is important to avoid the problem of the glaring Figure 8: Daylighting analysis of the case studied - baseline without
shading system on the left, integration of shading systems on the right.
and the thermal discomfort that may bring consequently an
excessive energy consumption (South oriented facades
The picture 8 shows easily the effect of the two different
receive such a high solar gain that cooling demand could not
configurations on a specific floor (third floor destined to
be handled by the HVAC system).
office use). The Panel-A, at each opening angle, maintains
Therefore, a solution based on shading devices to mitigate
good level of daylighting (from 50% to 75%). Different is
solar gains could be Horizontal louvers for south façade and
the case of the Panel-B, in which behaves too shaded (0%
vertical louvers for east façade (Hernandez, et al. 2017).
of daylighting) when it is closed and averagely shaded (75%
North façade could not be equipped with shading device
daylighting) when it is opened or semi-opened.
because it receives very little direct solar gain.
It is possible to state that the first configuration respects the
This configuration is recommended by the daylight
aim of the analysis guaranteeing a modulating daylight and
guidelines (Rubinestein, et al. 2013) provided by the
consequently more comfort for the building users.
Building Technologies, Department at the Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory. In the case studied, having a
façade exposes on south-west (SSW) orientation, two
different shading systems have been chosen: on the right
side (more southern orientated) movable vertical panels
equipped with fixed horizontal lamellas, on the left side a
dynamic green system composed by ropes and climbing
plants (fig. 7).

Figure 9: Overall daylighting analysis of the case studied – Shading system

Figure 7: Configuration of the shading systems - case studied comparison
The graph (Fig.9) shows the analysis made considering the
entire building comparing the baseline without any device
with the two configurations of shading system. This last
analysis confirms the previous assumptions. As far as the
Panel-B concerns, it shows a little improvement of the over
lit, but it can be considered negligible in comparison to the
significant growth of the under lit that can lead to an evident
discomfort. Using the Panel-A, instead, it is possible to have
an improvement not only of the well-lit but also of the over-
lit.

Green Shading
Using vegetation as a shading system means that its
effectiveness changes with its growing and wilting seasons
from spring to winter. In the winter, climbing plants have
bare branches that allow low angle solar radiation through
the glazed facade into the building interior. Whereas in the
summer, the dense leaf foliage absorbs solar radiation and,
through the evapo-transpiration process, decreases the air
temperatures (Fig.10).
In order to approach to the dynamic aspect of the vegetation,
the analysis have been effectuated according to the study
“thermal shading effect of climbing plants on glazed
facades” (Yan, Ip and Miller 2005). Figure 12: Daylighting analysis of the case studied - on the left the
baseline without any shading system; on the left simulation of green
shading during the year.

The picture 12 demonstrates the effect of the plants during

its growth. The vertical green façade avoids the problem of
glaring and increase the indoor comfort by maintaining the
daylight factor around to the 75%.

4.2.2. Achievements
The aim of the daylight analysis was to obtain a percentage
of daylight around 75% in accordance with the LEED
protocol. This latter was achieved for both shading systems.
Figure 10: A vertical section through the bioshader system. (Yan, Ip, &
Miller, 2005) 5. Conclusions
The aim of this research paper is to study sustainable
strategies verifying its effect on a case studied.
Knowledge and prior analysis of the construction site of the
project is vital to develop sustainable strategies that are
consistent with the characteristics and problems of the area
and can generate a positive impact for both the building and
the sector.
In order to obtain an overview of the case studied the needs
and the shape of the building are analyzed. The different
needs of the building allow generating a dynamic
Figure 11: The overall shading coefficient of the bioshader. (Yan, Ip, & environment around it throughout the day, generating
Miller, 2005)
greater interaction between users, the building and the area.
Also, in this case, the analysis was made in static way The shape of the building was created by taking into account
considering four different periods: April (the starting the restrictions of the place, the external spaces of the
point), June, July, August (the peak). Simplified models adjacent buildings and the use of the light and the space of
have been created using perforated plate with different the building.
hole’s rate in accordance with the shading coefficient The use of water-saving appliances in bathrooms is an
(fig.11) respectively for each period: April (sc: 0.15), June important strategy to reduce water consumption.
(sc: 0.35), July (sc: 0.50), August (sc: 0.58). This study focuses on two main strategies: the green
technologies and the daylighting.
The green areas in the building are important to generate
spaces where the comfort of the users is improved, where a
greater isolation is generated, where the water is managed Yan, M. H., Ip, K., & Miller, A. (2005). Thermal shading
in a better way and where the building is integrated with effect of climbing plants on glazed facades. The
natural and sustainable processes. 2005 World Sustainable Building Conference,
The design of the shading system protects the building in (pp. 27-29). Tokyo.
summer and allows the natural lighting in a proper way
during every season creating a comfortable environment for
the users.
The use of these two strategies permits to reduce building
energy demand and enhance indoor environment quality.
The natural light implies solar gain useful in the cold season
to reduce the heating demand; during the hot seasons;
instead, it useful to avoid this gain by means of the use of
the shading system proposed.
Finally, it was possible to create a project where the
proposed building met the LEED specifications in a large
percentage, fulfilling the main objective of designing a
building with a sustainable concept in the context proposed
in the center of Milan.

References
Berghage, R. D. (2011, may). The Benefits and Challenges
of Green Roofs on Public and Commercial
Buildings.
Catalina, T., Virgone, J., & Lordache, V. (2011). Study on
the impact of the building form on the energy.
1726-1729.
Greenscreen. (2017). Consideration for advanced green
design. Retrieved from
http://greenscreen.com/docs/Education/greenscree
n_Advanced%20Green%20Facade%20Design_C
EU.pdf
Hernandez, F. F., Lopez, J. M., Suarez, J. P., Muriano, M.
C., & Rueda, S. C. (2017). Effects of louvers
shading devices on visual comfort and energy.
Energy procedia, 207-216.
Hua, Y., Oswald, A., & Yang, X. (2011). Effectiveness of
daylighting design and occupant visual
satisfaction in a LEED Gold. (ELSEVIER, Ed.)
Building and Environment, 54-64.
Islands., U. T. (2018, APRIL 22). Retrieved from EPA:
https://www.epa.gov/heat-islands/using-trees-
and-vegetation-reduce-heat-islands
Kwok, A. G., & Grondzik, W. T. (2007). Design
Strategies: Green Roofs. In The Green Studio
Handbook (pp. 49-50, 55, 66, 243). Oxford, UK:
Architectural Press by Elsevier.
Rubinestein, F., Selkowitz, S., Robinson, A., Shumann, J.,
& Lee, E. (2013). Tips for daylighting with
windows: the integrated approach. (ELSEVIER,
Ed.)
Sudan, M., & Tiwari, G. (2016). Daylighting and energy
performance of a building. (ELSEVIER, Ed.)
Alexandria Engineering Journal, 3091-3100.

View publication stats