Rossano Albatici

University of Trento | UNITN · Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering

The adaptive capacities of building occupants have so far been primarily investigated in relation to the thermal climate through the adaptive thermal comfort model. However, the concept of adaptation extends beyond thermal conditions and is relevant to other sensory modalities, such as acoustics. This is significant for both human health and well-b...

The study presents findings of a data collection campaign conducted in 61 residential buildings in England during the summer of 2022, aiming to investigate the factors influencing 1) window usage, and 2) activation and deactivation of mechanical ventilation systems, and 3) the correlation between the residential soundscape, landscape, individual no...

Indoor air quality (IAQ) has significant impacts on office occupants’ productivity, well-being and health. Addressing IAQ not only means ensuring that contaminants are below harmful concentration but also that people exposed are satisfied. However, current standards often lack clear metrics and thresholds dedicated to Perceived Air Quality (PAQ). T...

Bioclimatic design aims to create environmentally harmonious structures by integrating with local climate. This approach relies on passive and active strategies for sustainability, emphasising factors like proper orientation, natural light utilisation, and understanding solar movement. Sun charts assist in analysing the sun's path, crucial for arch...

Fluorocarbons are an important category of greenhouse gas, currently prohibited (chlorofluorocarbons, CFC) or phased out (hydrofluorocarbons, HFC) due to their significant contribution to global warming and ozone depletion potential (GWP and ODP). Despite the ban, these chemicals are still emitted into the environment through different release mech...

The development of highly predictive analysis for designing cementitious composite with improved thermal and hygroscopic performance for building and construction poses a significant challenge. To investigate new potential applications, cement pastes have been prepared using a cement, sand, and crystallization admixture, with highly hygroscopic pol...

The introduction of prefabrication into the building façade retrofit market is still difficult due to many financial, economic, and social constraints, as well as technical and performance requirements that differ from those of new construction. The technical feasibility, construction details, and actual comfort and energy-saving benefits provided...

Landscape transformations derived by renewable energy sources exploitation may induce public resistance and loss of quality of the existing environment. Integrated approaches are needed to inform and guide transformation processes, relying on empirical evidence regarding spatio-technological feasibility, acceptance by the community, and integration...

The assessment of indoor thermal comfort is increasingly shifting from statistical to personalized models and therefore there is a growing interest in collecting feedback on occupants’ perceptions and preferences. Occupant Voting Systems (OVS) are emerging as a widely used tool in Post Occupancy Evaluations (POE) but the level of occupants’ interac...

Although noise pollution is a major environmental risk factor for public health, the general understanding of the phenomenon and the attention paid to it is secondary to other relevant environmental issues. The carbon footprint has proved useful to quantify and visualize the impact of human activities on the environment, to compare actions, and to...

A model for the assessment of perceived affective quality of indoor residential soundscapes is first applied in a field survey carried out in 61 dwellings in England. Objectives are i) to investigate measurement and indoor soundscape data representation, ii) to characterize soundscape appropriateness for home working and relaxation, iii) to test di...

The increasing adoption of solar power plants requires the consideration of different aspects involved in the transformation of landscape. In this view, recent studies encourage public engagement and landscape integration strategies in the decision-making process to ensure an accepted and inclusive energy transition. However, there is limited knowl...

Sexual well-being is a fundamental facet of the overall well-being of individuals and implies the ability to have safe and pleasurable sexual experiences, beyond the absence of disease or disturbance. The extent to which people can achieve sexual well-being depends, among other aspects, on whether they live in an environment that promotes and suppo...

The period of home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic made the importance of a high-quality surrounding environment even more evident than before. Several studies have been carried out to assess the (negative) impacts of noise on annoyance, particularly whilst working from home (WFH). The present study takes a step further by (1) investigatin...

La transición energética y el paisaje se consideran a menudo contrapuestos, debido a las transformaciones sobre los paisajes cotidianos que se acometen para alcanzar los objetivos energéticos. El paisaje, entendido como relación profunda entre las personas y su medio, debe ser una cuestión clave a tener en cuenta durante la transición energética, y...

Background Despite sexual wellbeing representing a potential component of the overall wellbeing of individuals, its relationship to indoor soundscape has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to identify acoustic-related variables linked to sexual wellbeing during the COVID-19 lockdown; the mechanisms through which those variables exert...

Current literature and guidelines on sustainable design often debate on the advantages of natural ventilation (NV) and mechanical ventilation (MV) on indoor environment and energy consumption. The present systematic review explores the existing literature comparing NV and MV on the indoor comfort and well-being points of view. The findings emphasiz...

The in-situ thermal behavior of building components often deviates from what is expected at the design stage. On the other hand, with the rise of average outdoor temperatures in summer due to climate change, it becomes more and more relevant to understand how and if the building envelope can effectively decrease and shift the summer heat wave. From...

Sexual well-being is a fundamental facet of the overall well-being of most individuals and implies the ability to have safe and pleasurable sexual experiences, beyond the absence of disease or disturbance. The extent to which people can achieve sexual well-being depends, among other aspects, on whether they live in an environment that promotes and...

Urban green infrastructure (UGI) has a key role in improving human and environmental health in cities and contributes to several services related to climate adaptation. Accurate localization and quantification of pervious surfaces and canopy cover are envisaged to implement UGI, address sustainable spatial planning, and include adaptation and mitig...

The present study investigates acoustic comfort in naturally ventilated residential buildings through an indoor soundscape approach. Preliminary results from a laboratory listening test are presented, where, in a mock-up living room with a window sight, participants have been exposed to 20 acoustic scenarios, obtained as a combination of 4 indoor s...

The present work constitutes the sequel to the analysis of data from an online survey administered to 464 home workers in London in January 2021 during the COVID-19 lockdown. Perceived affective quality of indoor soundscapes has been assessed in the survey through a previously developed model, as the combination of two perceptual dimensions, one re...

Data from an online survey conducted in January 2021 by 464 participants living in London and working from home (WFH) after the COVID-19 outbreak were analysed, focusing on: (1) types of building services at home, (2) perceived sound dominance of building services, and (3) the perception of the indoor acoustic environment (i.e. the indoor soundscap...

Nell’era della digitalizzazione anche il mondo dell’edilizia è chiamato ad affrontare le sfide deri- vanti dalla raccolta, dall’analisi e dall’ottimizzazione dei dati. I benefici sono molteplici: la pos- sibilità di identificare problemi di performance, monitorare prestazioni in tempo reale e control- larne i costi, anticipare azioni di intervento,...

Results of an online survey conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown among 848 home workers living in London (United Kingdom) and in Italy are reported with a focus on (1) the impacts of building services on the perception of the acoustic environment while working and relaxing at home and (2) the factors associated with window opening behaviour. The...

Data from an online survey conducted in January 2021 by 464 participants living in London and working from home (WFH) after the COVID-19 outbreak were analysed, focusing on: (1) types of building services at home, (2) perceived sound dominance of building services, and (3) the perception of the indoor acoustic environment (i.e. the indoor soundscap...

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a result of the adoption of worldwide lockdown measures, the home environment has become the place where all the daily activities are taking place for many people. In these changed social and acoustical contexts, we wanted to evaluate the perception of the indoor acoustic environment in relation to tr...

Cities and urban areas have an essential role in contributing to sustainable development, as highlighted in the New Urban Agenda and in the Paris Agreement. To this end, experts and municipalities have been setting green and low carbon agendas to transform the built environment and promoting measures to make cities resilient and inclusive. Although...

Cities have a key role in tackling the challenges related to climate change and they constitute an ideal framework to engage with low carbon and green agendas, and to transform the built environment with resilient and inclusive measures. In this paper, the relationship between adaptation and mitigation strategies has been investigated, to evaluate...

Negli spazi costruiti in cui siamo continuamente chiamati a vivere e abitare, i temi del risparmio energetico e del comfort indoor hanno raggiunto ormai livelli di attenzione elevati, suscitando l’interesse e il coinvolgimento diretto di ogni singola utenza. Ogni operazione va dunque valutata in relazione a questi due aspetti i quali, anche se fort...

Regenerative building design represents a paradigm shift from current sustainability practices towards a new design approach, as it focuses not only on limiting negative impacts but also on promoting a positive contribution to social and ecological systems. Regenerative design and indoor soundscape research share a multidisciplinary approach and th...

Models of perceived affective quality of soundscapes have been recently included into standards to guide the measurement and improvement of urban soundscapes. Such models have been developed in outdoor contexts and their validity in indoor built environments is unclear. A laboratory listening test was performed in a mock-up living room with a windo...

The focus of the building industry and research is shifting from delivering satisfactory spaces to going beyond what is merely acceptable with a wave of new research and practice dedicated to exploring how the built environment can support task performance and enhance people´s health and well-being. The present study addresses the role of acoustics...

One of the key issues of the contemporary city is “urban voids”, characterized by disused buildings. Such spaces can be the starting point for a new urban setting, where the city reconnects to the rural environment. Vertical farming can be a new paradigm connecting these often-opposed concepts, bringing several advantages. This paper presents an ex...

The indoor-outdoor connection provided by ventilation openings has been so far a limiting factor in the use of natural ventilation (NV), due to the apparent conflict between ventilation needs and the intrusion of external noise. This limiting factor impedes naturally ventilated buildings meeting the acoustic criteria set by standards and rating pro...

The design of an indoor acoustic environment positively perceived by building occupants requires a perceptual approach to be adopted in order to define what makes it sound good. Soundscape standards ISO 12913 have been introduced to assess how the acoustic environment is perceived, in context, by people. According to the standards, a straightforwar...

Visual quality is an important component of indoor environment quality and greatly affects inhabitants’ perception of the living space. Nevertheless, the lighting design of residential buildings is usually underestimated by both designers and standards. This paper presents an integrated index for evaluating the visual quality of an indoor environme...

Buildings in Europe account for 40% of total primary energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions. Nearly one-half of the building stock was built before modern energy efficiency standards and need urgent renovation. Urban retrofitting has emerged as a crucial factor for bringing about a radical change, the new construction rate being lower than 1%....

European energy politics, usually focused on the single building scale, are now broadening their field of interest towards a wider context, defining more adequate intervention strategies aiming at facilitating virtuous relationship between buildings at district, city and region levels. Themes related to human comfort are properly considered as well...

Passive solar elements for both direct and indirect gains, are systems used to maintain a comfortable living environment while saving energy, especially in the building energy retrofit and adaptation process. Sunspaces, thermal mass and glazing area and orientation have been often used in the past to guarantee adequate indoor conditions when mechan...

The complexity of a subject such as indoor comfort has encouraged the development of evaluation methods and scoring systems aimed at presenting either multiple indicators in a reduced set of results, a score, or a single classification, which can be more comprehensible for all the stakeholders involved. This paper examines these existing indoor com...

The paper examines the relationship between energy efficiency and indoor comfort presenting an original methodology to assess data from simulation software. Recently, concerns about aspects related to occupant indoor comfort are arising near energy issues, usually considered the predominant key point for a sustainable construction. Various energy-o...

Nowadays, deep and sudden climate changes are occurring, and the human actions are considered to be widely jointly liable. Such events are connected most of all to the building sector where a reversal of trend is now on going with difficulty, by means of the introduction of design, constructive and management methodologies more respectful of the en...

Buildings in Europe account for 40% of total primary energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions. Approximately 40% of Europe’s building stock predates the 1960s (in Italy the percentage increases to 63.8% considering the 1970s), when standards regarding insulation, energy efficiency and indoor comfort did not exist, and the stock is now...

The paper deals with a research carried out within the project CASA “Comfort for sustainable housing in the Alps”, concerning the definition of an integrated rating system of inner comfort from a thermal, visual, acoustic and IAQ point of view. A preliminary phase of the project is presented, regarding the evaluation of a free running single buildi...

Quantitative thermography is now mostly accepted as a reliable method to measure energy performance of existing buildings, in particular the thermal transmittance U-values of opaque elements. Some researches have been conducted in this field, each presenting a different procedure verified by the application on simple case studies. Anyway, a compreh...

Following international standards concerning energy performance of buildings, in absence of reliable data on the envelope characteristics, thermal transmittance of building elements should be measured in situ. The method commonly used, based on ISO recommendations, is the heat flow meter measurement method. An alternative approach is based on the i...

Electric lighting is one of the major energy loads in non-residential buildings. It is strategic to examine the real behaviour of available lighting control systems for practical applications so as to allow the development of strategies that can improve the reliability of measured data (in terms of illuminance at the desktop) and the consequent res...

Due to new European standards and requirements for energy performance in non-residential buildings, it is important to explore and quantify the benefits of intelligent (automated) energy-efficient operating systems relative to conventional (manual) systems. This paper explores the energy performance of an automated lighting control system under rea...

This paper presents a parametric approach to the definition of a proper building shape compared to the building heating requirement in the very first stage of the design process. A new simplified index is introduced, namely the south exposure coefficient Cfs. In fact, as far as bioclimatic architecture is concerned, the relationship between buildin...

Due to new regulations in the field of energy saving, international standards concerning energy requirements of buildings have been developed. In this field, during the design phase, one of the most important parameters to be considered is the value of heat losses coefficient through the envelope. Anyway, very often a great difference is experience...

In the last years, building regulation and technical standard concerning energy efficient design and indoor comfort conditions addressed their attention most of all to the thermal characteristics of the envelope and to the energy systems. Other aspects of the design process are often underestimated and delegated to the experience and knowledge of s...

Bioclimatic architecture deals with the relationship between buildings and natural environment in order to guarantee indoor comfort conditions and to minimize energy requirements. The building shape is a fundamental aspect of that relationship. Usually, in thermal behavior analysis this parameter is considered only from the point of view of compact...

This paper deals with research carried out at the Laboratory of Building Design, University of Trento, Italy to define possible design actions to improve energy efficiency and indoor comfort conditions in residential buildings. The paper presents retrofitting interventions both in wintertime and summertime, through the use of passive solar elements...