Acoustic Technologies, Fire Engineering, smart Energy, Lighting technologies: new trends & opportunities for ESA engineering

The research is strongly oriented on applicative and experimental aspects and aims to provide concrete answers, in terms of acquired knowledge, to the main technical issues in terms of energy sustainability, safety technologies, fire engineering, acoustics and lighting technologies at the level of the building scale and also on larger scales, districts and neighbourhoods, and also in an urban perspective according to the emerging paradigm of the Smart City. 

The goal of the project is to encourage the co-creation, exploration, experimentation and evaluation of innovative ideas, scenarios, concepts and relevant technological materials in real use cases, in the context of building and urban redevelopment. 

The various research fronts are located in this context of research into technologies for energy efficiency and savings, for lighting, for fire safety, modelling of building systems, for acoustics and for structural parts, with particular attention to the following application areas: 

  • Efficiency studies on waste-to-energy and trigeneration processes with relevant experimental cases and studies on performance-reflective materials obtainable in real contexts. 
  • Energy studies for the construction of new areas with high energy efficiency 
  • Studies for the reduction of CO2 emissions aimed at optimising energy efficiency 
  • Studies for the construction of new air conditioning systems for Student Housing. 
  • Governance of the energy process through tools to alter human behaviour with gaming algorithms and extensive use of sensors with the introduction of IoT (Internet of Things) in the Facility management field 
  • Building energy and Energy Big Data modelling for the building scale and the district scale. 
  • Studies on the urban scale with a view to a smart city, which needs to explore urban components and tools for urban redevelopment in compliance with medium and long-term policies 
  • Studies on methods for environmental sustainability interventions, energy requalification processes and integrated design through BIM modelling of new buildings 
  • and to heat existing ones (E-BIM). 
  • Smartisation of the built environment, from the design stage to the executive stage and to the subsequent operation and maintenance stage through pervasive and sensing technologies. 
  • Studies on advanced technologies for the building’s Lighting (outdoor and indoor) with attention to energy saving and personal comfort. 
  • Fire safety studies with attention to the prevention and management of emergencies. 
  • Exploration of new trends in the acoustics sector and its interaction with the safety, lighting and energy management aspects. 

The project team is made up of approximately fifteen internal professionals, belonging to the engineering and architecture fields. Interns and graduates have also provided contributions under framework agreements with the academic world. The choice adopted reflects the company’s spirit of growing and enhancing human capital as an instrument to increase competitiveness. 

The research activities are strongly correlated with the operational activities, attempting to anticipate the innovative technological aspects and the methodological aspects that may see potential repercussions on projects towards clients. The market driven approach therefore allows us to provide useful information when selecting research content, while the scouting and monitoring of technological trends highlights the opportunities for innovation to be studied and explored to generate useful knowledge for future design activities and services.