AT | Architettura Tecnica

Areas: Building performance & architectural liveability Climate & energy challenges Cultural & living heritage Urban design

Research Vision and Activities

The research group operates within the field of Architectural Engineering, with particular reference to the technical culture of design, construction history, renovation and conservation of the built heritage, and sustainable design for the architectural and performance-based retrofit of buildings, as well as for new construction. Its activities integrate expertise in building technology and construction, energy and environmental performance, computational and digital methods, perceptual and experiential research, and historical and archival studies, with the aim of developing criteria, methods and tools to support the understanding, transformation, design and sustainable management of the built environment. 

The main research lines concern: the study of historical and modern construction techniques; the building renovation and rehabilitation of both historic and recent existing heritage; the conservation and enhancement of architectural and cultural heritage; the performance, energy and structural retrofit of existing buildings; the sustainable and integrated design of new buildings, components and construction systems; the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) methodologies for the evaluation of environmental and economic impacts; the use of low-environmental-impact materials, components and systems; circular design and the decarbonisation of the construction sector; and the digitalisation of information processes in the AECO sector, with particular reference to BIM, HBIM, performance simulations, Digital Twins for the management of existing assets, Artificial Intelligence, and the use of computational techniques for the scientific formalisation of knowledge protocols for the built heritage. The group also carries out experimental research on full-scale and reduced-scale prototypes, aimed at testing historical, traditional and innovative construction systems, measuring energy, environmental and hygrothermal performance, and validating technological solutions for building renovation and new construction. 

The group also develops applied research in the fields of urban regeneration, climate neutrality, cultural heritage resilience, sustainable reconstruction, and the enhancement of peripheral or transforming built contexts. Specific attention is devoted to spatial quality in relation to users’ comfort, health and wellbeing, including emerging approaches related to neuroscience applied to architecture, human perception, and psychological and biological effects of the built environment. These activities are consistent with the principles of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) - beauty, sustainability and social inclusion - promoting a design vision capable of combining architectural quality, technical innovation, reduced environmental impacts, accessibility, wellbeing and the social value of interventions. This orientation concerns both the transformation of the existing built heritage and the design of new buildings, contributing to the definition of a more sustainable, resilient, inclusive and culturally aware built environment. 

The group participates in the activities of Ar.Tec. – Scientific Society of Architectural Engineering (https://www.artecweb.org/), the scientific association of reference for the CEAR-08/A Architectural Engineering sector, which is committed to promoting the relationship between architecture and building technologies and to enhancing the scientific, methodological and educational culture of the discipline. 

The group also contributes to the editorial activities of TEMA Technologies Engineering Materials Architecture (https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/tema/index), an open-access scientific journal founded in 2015, the official journal of Ar.Tec., and classified by ANVUR as a Class A journal for Area 08 - Architecture. Prof. Riccardo Gulli serves as Journal Director and Editor-in-Chief; Cecilia Mazzoli, Angelo Massafra and Carlo Costantino are members of the editorial board. 

Department scientific supervisor

Riccardo GULLI

Professors and researchers

Non-permanent staff

Carlo COSTANTINO

Lorenzo STEFANINI

PhD students