Buildingmass and Energy Demand in Conventional Housing Typologies of the Mediterranean City

Michele Morganti, Anna Pages-Ramon, Helena Coch and Antonio Isalgue
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Michele Morganti: SOS Urban Lab—DICEA Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy
Anna Pages-Ramon: Architecture and Energy—Barcelona School of Architecture, UPC, Av. Diagonal 649, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Helena Coch: Architecture and Energy—Barcelona School of Architecture, UPC, Av. Diagonal 649, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Antonio Isalgue: Architecture and Energy—Barcelona School of Architecture, UPC, Av. Diagonal 649, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 13, 1-18

Abstract: The causal relation among building typology and building energy demand is a complex balance of climate, morphology, technology and use. The assessment of the relation between mass of building elements and energy demand in different housing typologies is the main goal of this study. A novel indicator, namely the Buildingmass, is introduced and tested in the Mediterranean climate region. Explorations on nine conventional housing typologies in Barcelona and Rome are carried out. Buildingmass evaluation is based on the calculation of the mass of building elements. Energy demand is assessed by modelling on multi-space dynamic thermal analysis tool. Our results point out that the Buildingmass has a strong relevance on energy, playing an important role in reducing heating and cooling demand in the Mediterranean city, as described by the proposed correlation (R 2 = 0.88). Moreover, this indicator gives a more detailed characterisation of the housing stock of the Mediterranean city. The study aims at bridging the gap between urban physics and urban metabolism studies and fostering energy conservation measures for the built environment.

Keywords: urban indicators; building energy performance; housing typology; heating and cooling demand; built mass (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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