Sustainable Building and Earthen Architecture
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2020) | Viewed by 434
Special Issue Editor
Interests: The scientific career of Dr. Rincón has been focused on sustainable building and the energy efficiency of buildings. This research can be grouped into the following topics: material flow analysis (MFA) as an environmental assessment tool for the building sector, life cycle analysis (LCA) of construction materials and buildings, construction with materials of low environmental impact (earthen building), facades and green roofs as passive systems for energy saving of buildings. Dr. Rincón is currently a member of the Sustainable Energy Machinery and Buildings research group (SEMB) of the University of Lleida. The present lines of research have a common denominator, i.e., a sustainability view of habitat, and include passive systems for energy saving, earthen architecture, and emergency housing in cooperation and development projects
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The three dimensions of sustainability are environmental, social, and economic. Few technologies can simultaneously meet these three dimensions, one of which is earthen buildings. Environmentally, earth is considered an eco-friendly material because it requires low energy and produces low emissions in the process of extraction and fabrication, has high durability, can be recycled at the end of its service life, and is a local resource since it is can be found everywhere in the world. Socially, earthen architecture has been present during eleven millennia in numerous and diverse cultures. Stunning examples of earthen architecture, such as palaces and monuments from ancient Al-Andalus, remain present after many centuries. Today, earthen buildings offer dwellings to one-third of humanity in 150 countries, including developed countries. Economically, earth buildings are abundant and cheap, accessible to the population, and promote endogenous growth. Research in this field can create new market opportunities based on cradle-to-cradle products and eco-innovation. Moreover, recent requirements in the thermal comfort of buildings demand further improvements in the incorporation of insulation for the energy refurbishment of earth buildings. For these reasons, sustainable buildings require different ways of developing future building processes, with innovative technologies based on the ancient knowledge on earthen architecture. The objective of this Special Issue is to compile cutting-edge studies on earthen architecture as a way of meeting the objectives of sustainable development and, therefore, sustainable building. Specifically, this Special Issue invites theoretical and empirical studies on the following themes, although other relevant topics will also be considered:
- Heritage inventories and studies about vernacular earthen architecture;
- Heritage conservation and management of earthen architecture;
- Experimentation and eco-innovation of building materials and techniques in contemporary earth architecture;
- Energy efficiency and thermal performance of earthen architecture by experimental monitoring and simulation;
- Passive systems used in earth architecture for reducing the energy demand of the building;
- Material characterization and laboratory tests for assessing constructive systems based on raw earth;
- Technological advances in production and construction of building techniques based on raw earth;
- Retrofitting and restoration of earthen architecture, innovative techniques, and good practices;
- Innovative thermal insulation for energy refurbishment of earth buildings;
- Life cycle assessment of sustainable buildings and earth architecture;
- Mechanical characteristics and seismic resistance analysis of earth building, techniques and structures;
- Economic and cultural benefits of earth architecture;
- Innovative pedagogy in earth architecture field.
Dr. Lídia Rincón
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- sustainable building
- earth architecture
- vernacular architecture
- raw earth
- rammed earth
- adobe
- eco-friendly materials
- eco-innovation
- cradle-to-cradle
- passive systems
- energy efficiency
- energy renovation
- retrofitting
- heritage conservation
- thermal performance
- thermal insulation
- material characterization
- mechanical characteristics
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