On Thursday 27th and Friday 28th of April, BUILD UP was pleased to host a two-day seminar from the URBAN therCOM project. The session, titled "Micro-Climate Change and Envelopes: Understanding, Modelling and Design in Light of a Changing Climate", was curated by Senior Researcher and BUILD UP Ambassador Emanuela Giancola and Professor Emanuele Naboni.

Watch here the recording session - Day 1

Watch here the recording session - Day 2

The focal point of the seminar was on the relationship between local microclimatic changes and the design envelopes. On the first day, keynote speakers brought their work and upcoming challenges related to climate change modelling, coupling of microclimate and building forms. On the second day, presenters tackled matters of decarbonization and energy, health and comfort, ecology and nature-based solutions. 

The seminar was split into seven separate sessions, over the two days. The speakers and their presentation titles are detailed below. 

Day 1 – Thursday 27 April

Welcome and introduction 

• Emanuela Giancola, Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research at CIEMAT and Emanuele Naboni of UniPR, Royal Danish Academy, UNSW, UC Berkeley, and SOS Mario Cucinella

Session 1: Modelling linking outdoor and indoor

• “Inside the Outside” by Michael Bruse, University of Mainz
• “Connecting micro-microclimates and energy performance” by Victoria López-Cabeza, University of Sevilla
• "Urban Microclimate Integrated Building Energy Modeling" by Naga Manapragada, TECHNION, Israel Institute of Technology.

Session 2: Microclimate, form and surfaces

• “Urban Microclimate: Ongoing projects” by Carmen Galán-Marín, University of Sevilla
• “Creating a set of urban weather files from a monitoring campaign. Recent experience and future prospects” by Miguel Núñez Peiró, ETSAM-Polytechnic University of Madrid
• “Impact of reflective materials on outdoor and indoor microclimat” by Agnese Salvati, Polytechnic University of Catalunya
• “Local UHI mitigation trought green roofs in Mediterranean environments” by Massimo Palme, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Chile
• “Building Form Generation Method for Reducing Energy Need of Built Environment” by Francesco de Luca, Tallin University of Technology
• “INFRARED” by Angelos Chronis, INFRARED.

Session 3: Climate Change and Modelling 

• “Cooling the City: Mitigation of Heat Extremes through Adaptation Strategies for Cities in a Semi-arid Climate” by Giandomenico Vurro, Salvatore Carlucci, The Cyprus Institute
• “Numerical simulations of climate change impact on urban microclimate, and pedestrian thermal comfort” by Nestoras Antoniou, University of Cyprus
• “Bridging Climate Change Modelling and Engineering Design for Sustainable and Resilient Adaptation Solutions” by Vahid Nik, Kavan Javanroodi, Lund University 
• “Mesoscale modelling of urban overheating” by Alberto Martilli, Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research, CIEMAT.

Day 2 – Friday 28 April 

Session 4: Energy and Climate Change

Andras Reith, ABUD

• “How Climate Changes require to design buildings differently” by Umberto Berardi, Toronto Metropolitan University; Polytechnic University of Bari
• “Enhancing exploitation of solar energy at high latitudes through the digitalization of the built environment” by Mattia Manni, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
• “CBE Clima on-line, open-source climate analysis for the AEC industry and education” by Giovanni Betti, HENN.

Session 5: on Envelopes in Light of Climate Change

• “The role of citizen data towards climate resilient cities” by Jesus Lizana, University of Oxford
• “Adaptive Opaque Facades Shifting from highly insulated envelopes to thermal modulators” by Miren Juaristi, EURAC
• “Building Resilient Cities: How Materials and Urban Monitoring are Driving Climate Action in Urban Environments" by Ioannis Kousis, University of Perugia
• “Chromogenic materials and devices for energy saving and visual comfort” by Alessandro Cannavale, Polytechnic University of Bari
• “Multifuncional building envelope systems as a microclimate and energy flow regulator” by Fabio Favoino, Valentina Serra, Stefano Fantucci, Polytechnic University of Torino.

Session 6: Nature Based Envelopes for Climate Change 

• “Green envelope as a microclimatic boundary condition” by Roberta Cocci Grifoni, University of Camerino
• “ECOLOPES: multi-species building envelopes” by Katia Perini, University of Genova
• “Closing the Water Cycle at the Building Scale: The contribution of multifunctional envelopes” by Maria Beatrice Andreucci, University La Sapienza Rome.

Session 7: Linking Scale, Tool and Design

• Emanuele Naboni of UniPR, Royal Danish Academy, UNSW, UC Berkeley, SOS Mario Cucinella.

Each session was followed by a brief Q&A discussion with the speakers and moderators. 

Watch here the recording session - Day 1

Watch here the recording session - Day 2