eERG at work
Milan’s Campus – 11b Building (2024-25)
11b Building is located in the major campus of Politecnico di Milano. It was built in 1934 as a service building to Piscina Romano, a public swimming pool (1928-37) and is a property of the Municipality of Milan.
The building was extensively renovated by Politecnico di Milano and DAStU. eERG has overseen the passive technologies and the KNX controls, as actions carried out within the MUSA project. The building now hosts the CRAFT competence center anti-fragile territories of the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU).
The renovation project regards about 200 square meters on three stories. The energy requalification aims to considerably reduce the energy need for heating and cooling as defined in EN ISO 52000.
The building is an heritage asset, so it was not possible to alter the outside. Only the roof was insulated from the outside, while most of the walls were insulated from the inside, using recycled textile materials, as waste from the largest Italy’s textile processing area in Tuscany.
Small actuators were installed to operate windows and entrance doors in order to activate night ventilation during the hot or intermediate seasons, so to naturally cool the mass of the building during the night when it absorbed heat during the day, thus stabilizing the internal temperature. Natural ventilation is supported by small air extractors placed in the highest part of the building’s volume when natural forcing is not sufficient.
Solar radiation is going to be controlled by screening the two large upper windows with two plant courtains (load-bearing structure and deciduous climbing plants), in order to shade the sun during the summer, while letting radiation in when in winter. Finally, the air movement generated by bladed fans brings a significant contribution to summer comfort (up to 3 degrees of reduction in perceived temperature) and allows winter savings by reducing the thermal stratification of the air.
The entire system is controlled via a Building Management System based on the open KNX protocol that enables to communicate with any brand of actuators, with predictive controls (taking into account weather forecasts and occupancy in the following days) developed by eERG-lab of DAStU, which will carry out detailed measurements of comfort variables and energy performance, and Post Occupancy Evaluation with standardized interviews.
Watch the presentation (IT) by Prof. Lorenzo Pagliano of eERG of 11b building renovation, with an address on climate crisis, efficiency and sufficiency matters. Milan, March 20th 2025