Multipurpose Retrofitting of a Tower Building in Brescia

L3: What is author affiliation 3?

We are concerned about the poor formatting of our paper before it was submitted for your review, although we were sure that the formatting was complete and done according the journal template. Affiliation was present but now it is absent. So it was added again.

Studio Ing. Davide Riva associato  re¬_load-Brescia; E-mail: davriva@libero.it

L7: change “correct” to “proper”

Done

L93: Figure 1(b) shows only half of the image. Where does the 11-storey tower sit in Figure 1(b)? How does the building aggregate corresponds to the plan?

We are concerned about the poor formatting of our paper before it was submitted for your review. We put all the images in tables, precisely to avoid them floating around in the paper or being cut off. But something happened later. The image you say was actually inserted correctly and only the block in the south-east corner is the 11-storey tower. The text was added in the caption.

L124: Table 1: blocco or block?

L124 Yes, corrected

L135: What do you mean by “critical points”? What are they?

Critical points are: lack of insulation, discontinuities in thermal resistance due to the geometry of the building and the presence of uninsulated supporting structures. This is also added in the paper.

L168: The temperature scale is invisible in the thermograms.

Temperature scale added in Figure 5

L169: What are the typical local winter season weather statistics?

Conventional period of heating: 183 days

Winter project temperature: -7°C

Altitude: 149 m a.s.l.

According to the national code: UNI 10349:2016 which provides, for the Italian territory, the conventional climatic data needed to verify the energy and thermo-hygrometric performance of buildings, including the technical systems for summer and winter air conditioning used in them.

This also is added in the paper.

L184: What are the numbered items? Those information are required to make use of the figures. Where did the heat flow simulate take place? What is the heat flow direction? What is the temperature scale?

Ok Figure 6 was modified according to the request. Numbers were removed because referred to executive project.

L209: Again, the temperature color scale is missing. Same for Figure 8.

Ok Figures 7 and 8 were modified too.

L215: What are the typical local summer season weather statistics? Those data will provide sufficient context for the readers to understand the modifications.

The typical local summer season weather statistics were considered: a) summer project temperature: +31,8°C; b) daily thermal excursion: 15°C according to UNI 10349:2016

This also is added in the paper.

L230: The charts are unreadable.

Figure 9 was enlarged.

L236: What is a “solar study”?

The following sentence was added in the caption of Figure 10c):

Solar study scheme to test the effectiveness of loggias in shielding solar radiation in summer (typical summer day: 22/07) and allowing it to penetrate in winter (typical winter day: 22/12).

L271-273: Was the air between internal wall and surface cladding completed sealed? Do you have an estimate of the air volume? Do you apply any technqiues to remove the moisture of the trapped air?

The following indications are reported in the text:

This is, in fact, an existing building constructed using the "hollow core", named in Italian “cassavuota”, technique considered with a non-ventilated air space (Av <500 mm2/m), but not sealed.

L293: The temperature scale of the left photo is not shown.

Figure 11 corrected

L306: Do you mean “Figure 11”?

No, it was really Figure 12. We realized that we inserted two figures with the same number and so all the following figures have a wrong number. I have adjusted everything. Thank you for noticing.

L435-437: This sentence can be placed right after L410.

L435-437 Done

L437-441: I don’t think it is so important to make quotes in the conclusion part.

We have removed the direct quotation form, but we considered the positive comment of the GBC Condominiums protocol important for this work.

1. Please improve the English language and correct the typos, For example:

• Line 41, the City ff Brescia
• Line 42, Please name the city in the sentence: “A city of about 200,000 inhabitants, it is one of the main economic-productive centres in Italy, with an important historical stratification of at least 3000 years….experimentation”
• Subject is missing in the sentence: “located in the 48 heart of the historic centre, in Piazza Vittoria and created by the gutting of a medieval 49 quarter, it was built with a height of 57 metres and became the symbol of the verticality 50 of Fascism [3, 4].”
• Please improve the language “The importance of the results of this structural analysis for the development of subsequent project activities has confirmed the feasibility and usefulness of the credits contained in the "Durability and Resilience" section of the GBC Condominiums protocol, which requires analyses similar to those described here.”
• Line 172, “The different stratigraphies were surveyed during surveys”
• Figure 6 “detail of the hollow core masonry typical of the construction period” needs a comma, the same for Figure 8.
• Line 219, “By examining the existing and project wall in dynamic regime, it was found the advantage, in terms of lowering the internal surface temperature, deriving from the application of thermal insulation (medium-high density materials), with a ventilated façade above.”
• Please improve the language “The most interesting feature, from an energy point of view, is the position of the external cladding layer, which does not adhere to the curtain wall but is spaced away from it, allowing natural air circulation in the cavity space, due to the convective motion produced by the presence of openings at the base and top of the façade.”
• “The benefits have been many”
• Line 124, “Dimensional”

We thank the reviewer for the punctual corrections:

Line 41 was not present in my uploaded version but verified.

Line 42 done.

Line 48 done.

Lines 11-114 done

Line 172 done.

Figures 6 and 8 captions: done.

Line 219 done.

Line 252 done

Line 268 done.

Line 124 done.

• Please improve: “This material is also compatible with the rules of the circular issued by the National Fire Brigade, prot. no. 0005043 of 15/04/2013, Guide for the determination of "Fire safetyrequirements for facades in civil buildings" [15]: it is completely incombustible.”

Line 187-189 done

• Line 287 “Figure 11 demonstrate the goodness of the thermal insulation”
• Line 311 “suffering from a chronic pathology”
• “Following the results of the Energy Diagnosis”
• Line 123 and line 348 should be replaced “In Table 1 some dimensional characteristics of the building are reported.”
• “Considering that the building is owned by a single owner, and is used for offices and services (Lawyers' offices, Bank, Bar, Shops), that it is located in the centre of Brescia, at a crossroads between two important streets with high traffic intensity, near Piazza della Vittoria, the project necessarily had to take into account the need to eliminate as much as possible the interference with the various activities…”
• “The main work phases were briefly as follows:”

Line 287 done

Line 311 done

Line 238 done

Lines 123 and 348 done

Lines 379-386 rewritten.

Line 411 done.

1. The resolution of several figures, e.g. Fig2, Fig 3, Fig 9..., must be improved

Figures 2, 3,5,6,7,8,9 and 11 were enlarged and improved.

1. Authors mentioned "sustainability" and "environmental impact" in several places in the article, but further details are missing.

These aspects are considered in the GBC Italy protocol which evaluated positively the sustainability of the here presented intervention, as mentioned in the last sentence by the director eng. Caffi.

1. Section 6.1, please give more details for the calculation (e.g. inputs, U-values for different parts) and results (e.g. total energy savings, economic benefits).

According to the reviewer suggestion, tables 2 and 3 were added in the section.

1. Line 286 and line 305 mentioned cost and economic benefits but without any details

Table 3 was added

1. 3^rd author’s affiliation is missing.

We are concerned about the poor formatting of our paper before it was submitted for your review, although we were sure that the formatting was complete and done according the journal template. Affiliation was present but now it is absent. So it was added again.

Studio Ing. Davide Riva associato  re¬_load-Brescia; E-mail: davriva@libero.it

1. in Section 8, input, loading types, materials, and result of evaluated parameters are not clearly presented

Section 8 was completed with the required parameters.

1. Please explain acronyms in the article, e.g. Table 2

Aiuto Acronyms are explain in the text.

1. Please check the caption of Figure 15

Caption of Figure 15 has been rewritten.

1. In general, the result of the calculation is not clearly presented in the article.

Chapter 8 has been reorganised and integrated to make the purpose of the analysis conducted and the evaluation process clearer and more readable.

1. The conclusion part should be improved 

Conclusions have been reorganised and integrated