Abstract:

Revolutionary modelling and design process management tools make possible to virtually reproduce the architectural organism and test its physical and functional, energy and environmental performance with extreme reliability. But the construction of a full-scale prototype makes possible to really verify the conceptual hypotheses that guided the scientific theses in the research process and it is, at the same time, a very useful didactic tool to demonstrate the feasibility and appropriateness of the methodology.

The "Petite-cabane" was the documenting tool for the technological design research of the ZEBtwZEEB research group and the European Researchers' Night 2019 (Sharper 2019) was the ideal scenario for the involvement of a wide and heterogeneous public. The exhibition of the prototype allowed to spread scientific knowledge, create learning curiosities around the world of research, tell about the innovative project carried out and dialogue with the community not only scientific but also with school students, teachers, and all interested parties.

The event took place inside one of the courtyards of the Royal Palace of Caserta where the demonstrator building was built: a 3x3 m single-user minimum residential unit made with the Light Gauge Steel Building System (LGS) produced with Controlled Automatically Roll Forming Machine, for which high technological and energy performance envelope packages were designed. The design of a small house becomes the “mise en forme” of a space in which "essential" equipment, energy performance, architectural qualities, economic and environmental costs are linked to the ease and immediacy of construction: a human centred design "adapted" to users.

The "Petite-cabane" has been created using an innovative construction process, characterised by rapidity and ease of assembly, as well as extreme flexibility and recyclability, structure in recycled press-bent steel and flexible lightweight envelope that guarantees excellent overall performance throughout the entire life cycle. In particular, the most important innovation presented is on the building envelope scale. The research for the optimisation of the stratigraphies aimed at minimising the thickness and quantity of material used, while complying with the minimum requirements of the current standard, has not only economic implications (sometimes minor), but it has an undoubted weight on the carbon footprint and environmental costs at the end of life. In a regenerative design horizon, in which not only the "operational phase" but the entire process conceived in its circularity and continuity is of great value, being able to guarantee excellent energy performance of the envelope with a thickness of just 17 cm (as in the case of the Petite Cabanne prototype) is of considerable importance.

This technical know-how is the immaterial content that in the digital age distinguishes material culture from the production of "manufactured capital, which is the hardware of nations" (Zeleny, 2005). In fact, the prototype represents an effective and complete form of communication also to demonstrate the real feasibility of the energy-efficient and eco-compatible choices that have guided the project. "Physical prototypes play a fundamental role in technological design and its teaching as they can be used as: learning tools [...], communication tools [...], integration tools [...], milestones [...]". (Giordano et al 2019)

Keywords:

Prototype, zero energy building, technological design, design experimentation, LGS, energy efficiency.