Paula Femenias

Chalmers University of Technology · Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering

This paper aims to contribute to the development of spatial criteria for adaptive capacity, which is identified as one important factor for the transition towards more circular housing design. The paper focuses on the kitchen, as an important function of the home which is connected to large resource flows and is exposed to frequent renovations and...

This paper investigates the dynamic between protection of the historic environment and the application of solar energy technology on 1- or 2-family houses in Sweden. More specifically, the building code relating to the installation of photovoltaic (PV) panels on house roofs and how existing policies are implemented in Stockholm City is investigated...

While research on the sustainable built environment has acknowledged the need to integrate multidisciplinary perspectives in the early planning phases, few studies have focused on early-phase meetings and how these can support such co-creation of sustainability. In this study, a set of “characteristics” for collaborative meetings integrating multid...

Cultural value and heritage have been identified as necessary for a sustainable living environment, alongside environmental concern and energy efficiency. In this study, multiple methods, i.e., life cycle assessment, payback, and questionnaires and interviews with tenants, and empirical data from a recent energy renovation of a multi-residential pr...

Space heating represents a major share of a households' total energy consumption and related CO2 emissions. An approach often suggested to improve both the environmental and economic performance of the energy system is demand-side management. However, there has been little research into how households perceive load shifting in space heating. This p...

The study reports from an on-going study of tenants’ view on energy retrofit. The first results, which are based on 27 qualitative interviews show a generally positive attitude to energy saving and environmental protection. However, many tenants are not familiar with the link between energy use and energy retrofit, and the idea of energy saving mig...

Sustainable transitions are challenging management and leadership in architectural practice. As means to overcome fragmentation and drive for sustainability, co-creation has become an emerging trend in construction management research and architectural practice. The early ‘fuzzy’ phase of projects has been identified as of great importance to integ...

This paper examines the kitchen as one relevant part of the home that is highly affected by frequent replacements, renovations, and a short service life. The aim is to discern circular value opportunities for the built environment by examining stakeholder activities and the value proposition associated with Swedish kitchens. The paper answers the r...

This research presents a decision support method for housing managers to identify the most appropriate renovation strategy, which combines a multi-criteria assessment of ten renovation factors together with an economic feasibility analysis. In contrast to the majority of decision support systems, this method not only assesses the impact of the reno...

Adaptability, that is, the capacity to accommodate future changes, is described as an intrinsic aspect of sustainable housing. Nevertheless, few studies have provided empirical evidence of what makes housing adaptable for end-users. Based on a sample of 313 modern apartments that have been rearranged by their owner-occupiers, two aspects of adaptab...

Both the daily use and renewal of kitchens significantly contribute to the overall environmental impact of domestic buildings. To identify design implications related to circular consumption in domestic kitchens, 20 household interviews and one focus group session were performed, investigating how kitchens are used and transformed to meet household...

An important part of the multi-family housing stock in Sweden was built during the record years 1961-1975 and is in need of extensive renovation to be modernized. The stock is also at the center of political discussion of how to sustain 'good housing for all', especially in the rental sector. These renovation needs coincide with present energy targ...

The design of woven and knitted structures can be compared with the formation of buildings' facades and constructions. However, textile designers do not generally participate when the exterior structure and facades of a building take shape, but rather when textiles and materials for the indoor environment are chosen, often with the intention of enh...

Residential movement and displacement as an effect of renovation has earned attention and also affected renovation practices in Sweden. While statistical studies have linked deep renovation to residential movement and displacement, there are no recent studies that investigate why people move or remain in housing areas that are renovated, and if and...

This research focuses on the tenants’ temporal relocation or stay in the home during renovation works and the property owners’ possibility to refurbish with intense and global interventions. The study compares two renovation strategies applied in two residential neighbourhoods in Gothenburg, Sweden, built between the 1950s and 1960s. In one neighbo...

Residential movement and displacement as an effect of renovation has earned attention and also affected renovation practices in Sweden. While statistical studies have linked deep renovation to residential movement and displacement, there are no recent studies that investigate why people move or remain in housing areas that are renovated, and if and...

This research focuses on the tenants' temporal relocation or stay in the home during renovation works and the property owners' possibility to refurbish with intense and global interventions. The study compares two renovation strategies applied in two residential neighbourhoods in Gothenburg, Sweden, built between the 1950s and 1960s. In one neighbo...

Sustainable housing renovation is often connected to broader transformation processes and a need of holistic approaches to deal with social, environmental and economic development. Architectural knowledge has been described as uniquely positioned to handle complex real-world problems by dealing with sustainability from a whole-systems perspective....

A questionnaire survey investigates the conditions for future roof renovations, driving forces and incentives as well as barriers to install roof mounted or roof integrated photovoltaics (PV) among Swedish owners and managers of multi-residential buildings. Respondents were identified through a database hosted by the Swedish Energy Agency holding i...

Progress is needed to reduce the climate impact from the construction and use of the built environment. This study contributes with knowledge about material flows and related climate impact from internal maintenance and renovation of dwellings. A pre-study (E2B2 project 39703-1) stated that modern and recently built owner-occupied apartments are re...

Historic multi-residential buildings that have been renovated at an earlier occasion are today facing new interventions. Re-renovation defines a concept for a second major renovation which opens up for the possibility of re-creating architectural and heritage values that has been lost in earlier renovations at the same time as demands for modernisa...

Under 1970-talet täcktes originalfasaderna på många äldre flerfamiljshusav material som krävde mindre underhåll såsom plåt och skivmaterial i samband med tilläggsisolering. Idag står dessa byggnader inför nya renoveringar med högre krav på energiprestanda. Denna studie berör två bostadsområden där man planerar eller nyligen har genomfört en omrenov...

Hur resonerar fastighetsägare kring solcellsinstallation i samband med en takrenovering? Vad krävs för att öka installationstakten av sol-celler och varför väljs solceller ofta bort under byggprocessens gång? I en mindre enkätstudie riktad till bostadsföretag och bostadsrätts-föreningar som har fått solcellsstöd undersökte vi drivkrafter, incita-me...

Swedish multi-family buildings constructed before 1945 constitutes an important part of the national built heritage. However, the majority does not have a formal heritage protection. Part of this building stock has already been renovated, notably through earlier energy saving programmes where additional exterior insulation, new façades and windows...

This study examines renovation strategies among owners of rental housing in Sweden in response to European energy policies that promote deep renovation as a means to reduce carbon emissions from residential buildings. Case studies of eleven housing companies, seven public and three private, were designed with the aim to examine housing owners' atti...

Denna rapport redovisar en undersökning av möjligheten att installera solceller i samband med takrenoveringar i flerbostadshus. Undersökning har genomförts i form av en enkätstudie med följande frågeställning i fokus: Vilka motiv, drivkrafter och hinder finns det för att installera solceller på tak i flerfamiljshus såsom de uppfattas av förvaltare...

The project has investigated the prerequisites of an industrialized approach, replacing flat roofs in the million program in need of renovation by low-seamed saddle or pulp roofs covered by solar cells. A main assumption has been that coordinated refurbishment and solar installations, primarily with a prefabricated roofing element and solar modules...

Education efforts, both at Chalmers and elsewhere, could be developed to better suit the needs of competences that would help with solving the societal challenges of coming and current generations. The educational framework Dare2Build aims to be a part of this development by immersing its students in cross-disciplinary teams, working with co-creati...

The chapter reports from a project developing architectural research in connection to a Living Lab. The aim is to create innovative design solutions in order to decrease the environmental loads from material flows over time focusing on occupier driven renovations and alterations to layout, materials and installations of apartments in multi-resident...

Electricity producing solar shading provides possibilities for a combined solution for solar shading and building integrated locally produced energy from renewable sources. The multi-functionality of these products calls for collaboration between a range of actors from manufacturers, clients, architects, engineers, and contractors. Two major challe...

Renovating housing properties in a sustainable manner while at the same time attaining a financially profitable project is a challenge for housing companies today. This problem becomes more apparent in socially deprived residential areas. Although there has been a vast amount of research on the topics of business models and sustainable housing reno...

The paper presents the test of a multi-value framework for the evaluation of energy producing solar shading on three cases of Swedish retrofitting projects. The evaluation framework was developed in collaboration between academics and industry partners in a transdisciplinary research project and considers: energy production, indoor environment and...

There is an extensive need for renovation in the existing housing stock and an increased rate of renovation activities is necessary not only to meet international climate and energy targets, but also in order to ensure buildings functions, technical qualities and to provide a good living environment. Thus, the challenges for the housing companies i...

This paper presents experiences from a two-day teaching workshop where first year students in architecture meet with first year students in textile design for an assignment on building structures with textile, soil and plants designing for indoor gardening with the aim of inspiring for more sustainable lifestyles. The background is a research proje...

Varför tar inte fler fastighetsägare chansen att sätta solceller på taket när man ändå skall göra en takrenovering? Miljonprogrammet liksom många andra stora byggnadsbestånd står inför större renoveringar och energieffektivisering samtidigt som priset för solceller minskar. Att kombinera en takrenovering med att installera solel borde ge synergieff...

Många av våra äldre flerbostadshus behöver moderniseras och renoveras inom de närmaste åren. Ofta handlar det då om byggnader som redan är renoverade och skall genomgå en andra större renovering. Vid renovering av äldre flerbostadshus behöver bevarande av kulturmiljö beaktas. Frågan är hur man kan modernisera för dagens krav på bland annat energief...

Reparation och återbruk av material och byggnads-delar vid ombyggnad och renovering har varit en självklarhet fram till att det industriella byggandet tog fart. I dag är det vanligast att man river ut mycket av den befintliga inredningen och ytskikten för att istället ersätta dem med nya. Skälen som anges är höga kostnader för arbete och mål om eff...

The Swedish housing stock is once again in focus for national energy savings, as it was after the oil crises in the 1970s and 1980s. The contemporary debate has a one-sided focus on energy savings and barriers for implementation of existing energy efficient renovation measures but also on large stock of industrialized housing built after 1960. The...

The European building stock was renewed at a rapid pace during the period 1950-1975. In many European countries the building stock from this time needs to be renovated. There is an opportunity to introduce energy efficiency measures in the renovation process, but in this process social aspects should also be taken into account. The purpose of this...

Studien avser en förstudie om materialflöden i flerbostadshus som genereras av inre ombyggnad under bruk. Vidare studeras kopplingen mellan dessa materialflö-den och den arkitektoniska utformningen av bostaden samt den miljöpåverkan och energianvändning (inbyggd energi) som dessa materialflöden ger upphov till. Förstudien ger underlag för fortsatt...

In order to approach an architecture beyond green, the architect’s role and knowledge base has been challenged during the last decades. How far have we come with the education of future generations of architects? The aim is to discuss the shifting paradigm for architectural education towards an integration of sustainability aspects. By looking back...

Renovation activities account for over 40% of all activities in the building sector and there are indications that these activities will increase in the near future driven by the need for modernisation of large stocks of post-war housing and objectives for energy efficient renovation. The renovation process is complex, involving many stakes and sta...

Environmental consideration within the Swedish construction sector can no longer be considered marginal. It is here discussed whether the same commitment is extended to facilitate deeper dimensions of sustainability in the provision of housing, beyond simply energy-efficient residential buildings? The paper presents the case of a multi-family ‘gree...

Forskningen inom den starka forskningsmiljön SIRen fokuserar på komplexa frågeställningar kopplade till allt från renovering av enskilda befintliga byggnader till uppgradering av hela områden. Det handlar exempelvis om hur branschen ska hantera samhällsutmaningar såsom klimatförändringar, förändrad demografi, ökad segregering och samtidigt bidra ti...

Sammanfattningsvis så ser vi att man arbetar brett med renovering och inkluderar olika aspekter men samtidigt saknar man stöd för att koppla dem samman till en helhet. En helhetsyn är nödvändig när man tar beslut om renovering för att kunna skapa förutsättningar för långsiktigt hållbara boendemiljöer. Samtidigt är det viktigt att verktyg för renove...

Many countries in Europe face large-scale renovation of 20th century housing. Although challenges for energy efficient renovation are similar in many countries contextual differences create varying possibilities and barriers for actions. We present a comparative study of managerial practices regarding refurbishment of housing in Austria and Sweden,...