Building Architectural Engineering

History

The group on Building Architectural Engineering is part of Construction, Civil Engineering and Architecture Department of Università Politecnica delle Marche. It is currently made up of 6 professors in the Italian disciplinary sector “Building Architectural Engineering” (ICAR/10), a professor in “Labour Law” (IUS/07), a specialized technician and several doctoral students and research fellows.

Mission

The group carries out teaching, research and knowledge transfer activities.

The teaching activity concerns courses pertaining to the Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Building Engineering, to the Master’s Degree in Building Engineering-Architecture and to the Professional Degree in Technics for Territorial Design and Management.

The research activity concerns the development of technological solutions, tools and services for the improvement of the built environment from the points of view of safety, comfort, management, use, as better detailed in the section “research activity”.

The Group carries out several European, national and local research projects. It actively collaborates with national and international subjects in the research and production sectors and with numerous Local Bodies.

The group of researchers in ICAR/10 sector obtained the highest score in Italy, for the specific research sector, in all the last three national research quality assessment procedures (VQR).

In addition to intense activity in collaboration with organizations and industries in the context of agreements and projects, the group is engaged in constant actions of technology transfer and enhancement of knowledge deriving from research. It launched an innovative start-up and two academic spin-offs, and owns 15 patents.

Laboratory

BS&T Lab

Research activities

The group on Building Architectural Engineering carries out research in the field of the development of technological solutions, tools and services for the improvement of the built environment from the points of view of safety, comfort, well-being, management and use. The research is based on laboratory and field activities (in both physical and virtual environments), as well as on the development and application of methods and models also based on AI.

In the context of the development of building technologies, the group deals in particular with:

Evaluation and optimization of the environmental, mechanical, hygrothermal, energy and durability performances of materials and components (e.g. moisture buffering materials, photocatalytic coatings, thermal insulators from recycled materials, ventilated envelopes, green roofs, etc.).
Innovative strategies and techniques for the renovation and conservation of Architectural Heritage (e.g. stucco and frescoes on light vaulted systems, historic masonry, etc.) and for design (e.g. windows with invisible frames, attics with structural glass, etc. )
Evaluation and optimization of technologies for urban overheating mitigation based on water mist cooling.

Several designed solutions are patented.

The group also deals with the analysis of the interaction between humans and the built environment, to propose technologies and solutions for optimizing design and use. In particular of:

Safety and emergency management in calamitous events, to propose innovative construction solutions and systems for way-finding, warning and assisted driving.
Well-being, comfort, work efficiency in buildings, in relation to environmental and subjective parameters.
Maintenance and management of complex buildings, considering the impact that their use generates on the state of the components over time and space (e.g. use of lifts, systems, occupation of premises).

The Group is active in numerous European (e.g. www.ribuild.eu, www.lifesuperhero.eu), national (e.g. www.bes2ecure.net) and local research projects. It actively collaborates with national and international subjects in the research and production sector and with numerous Local Bodies.

In the field of Labor Law, research activities are currently focused on labor law issues of engineering interest, in particular: occupational safety and artificial intelligence. As for the first, the research is aimed at verifying, based on current law, the possibility of a balanced distribution of civil, criminal and administrative responsibilities and responsibilities of the actors involved in complex or multi-employer production organizations, in which risks are generated deriving from interferences between the various activities. The second research line aims to analyze the impact of artificial intelligence and algorithmic employer decision systems on individual and collective work relationships.